Initial response to Amarnath cloudburst stored dying toll low: IAF officer

By PTI

SRINAGAR: The efforts of the primary responders ensured that the variety of deaths within the cloudburst incident close to the holy cave shrine of Amarnath in south Kashmir Himalayas was “limited”, a senior IAF officer mentioned on Monday.

Flash floods triggered by heavy rain struck close to the shrine on July 8, leaving a minimum of 16 individuals lifeless and greater than 30 lacking.

“Basically, due to the initial efforts which people put in on the first day, the fatality rate and the number of casualties were really limited,” Air Commodore Pankaj Mittal informed reporters right here.

Asked in regards to the scale of the rescue and aid operations, he mentioned,”As compared to a lot of operations we have seen (earlier), this was a bit on a smaller scale”.

Air Commodore Mittal mentioned a significant a part of the rescue and aid operations was over and the world needs to be ok to be opened for regular actions within the subsequent two days.

“Major effort (of rescue and relief operation) has already gone through and they have already cleared the opening of the yatra again. I think in a day or two, we will be able to clear the area for anything else,” he added.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) officer mentioned climate was the largest problem within the rescue and aid operations within the aftermath of the incident.

“Weather was a significant problem in mounting the rescue and aid operations. The valley (resulting in the cave shrine) being slender and because of clouding, choppers have been discovering it troublesome to enter.

“There are some minimum parameters like visibility that we need to observe before flying….even on 10th (July), we were not able to operate for more than half the day till 2 pm due to weather,” he mentioned.

The Air Commodore mentioned, on the day of the incident, the climate was inclement and “we thought it prudent to launch the operations the next day in a coordinated manner”.

“On the 8th, the focus was on planning and coordination of assets and coordination between various agencies like the civil administration, the camp commanders, the army commanders, BSF as well as the J&K police,” he added.

He mentioned the primary air operation began on July 9 round 9 am. “The assets we used were four MI-17 V5 from the base unit here and four cheetals, which augmented from the unit at Leh, two fixed wing assets which brought in manpower and assets from other parts of the country,” he added.

Air Commodore Mittal mentioned regardless of inclement climate, the IAF was capable of perform 112 missions.

“We carried 123 evacuations and 29 tonnes material was flown in from this base to the lower cave and Panjtarni areas,” he mentioned.

The officer mentioned the rescue and aid efforts wouldn’t have been potential with out plenty of coordination and cooperation between numerous companies.

He lauded the function performed by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Army engineers and civil administration in finishing up the rescue and aid operations.