PHOTOS: Sikkim Rescue Operations by Indian Army

The clear skies on bright and sunny tuesday saw Army resume helicopter sorties between North Sikkim and Gangtok,Bagdogra. The Army also plans to use Pakyong Airport for bigger and heavier helicopter operations.The Indian Army has won hearts of people across Sikkim for its sheer dedication and determination to reach out and help in every way possible to Quake hit victims .

Pune’s superwomen saving lives in Sikkim

As the world’s eyes were affixed on TV channels witnessing the horror that unfolded in Sikkim due to the earthquake last Sunday, the heroes of the Indian Air Force (IAF) wasted no time and geared themselves up for the relief work.

One such champion is 26-year-old helicopter pilot Arunima Vidhate — posted at IAF’s Bagdogra airport — who was one of the first ones to conduct survey of the quake-hit area.

“The first thing I saw during the aerial recee was numerous landslides and how areas were cut off because of that. Thereafter our team started relief work, air-dropping food packets, medicines and other relief material for the affected people,” said Vidhate, who has 300 hours of flying helicopters.

She is one of the two women pilots who are part of the 18-member pilot team which is flying small helicopters like ‘Cheetah’ and ‘Chetak’ to provide relief material to the quake-hit areas in Sikkim.

The other woman pilot is PP Ranade, 25. She was initially involved in the ground work but now for the past couple of days she is also flying and taking the relief material to valleys of north Sikkim — which suffered the most destruction.

Recounting her experience, Ranade said: “One thing which strikes me most was the joy among people when they hear the sound of our helicopter approaching them. Their feeling that they have not been left alone and that there is someone for them touched me.” Echoing her views, Vidhate said: “What can satisfy more than watching someone alright whom you had admitted to hospital.”

The ‘superwomen duo’ hails from Maharashtra’s Pune area but as they were asked about their place, they shot back saying they are from India.

Vidhate comes from a defence background and the history of her family in military services goes back to four generations. Ranade, however, is the first one from her family in IAF and joined the force as she ‘loves flying’. Asked if they want to fly other helicopters, they smiled and revealed that their eyes are firmly set on bigger helicopters like Mi-17s.

Women IAF pilots shine in Sikkim relief and rescue operations

Bagdogra, Sep 24 (IANS) Women pilots of the Indian Air Force (IAF) have been in the thick of action the past week, carrying out relief and rescue operations in earthquake-hit Sikkim from this air base in north Bengal.

Three of the 30-odd pilots from the 142 Helicopter Unit are putting in long hours to conduct sorties from ‘sunrise to sunset’ to reach supplies and carry out evacuation from the remotest corners of north Sikkm, the epicentre of Sunday’s 6.8-magnitude earthquake.

The air base is the centre of all IAF relief operations for the neighbouring state.

Flying the Cheetah and Chetak choppers of the IAF, the women pilots have matched their skills with their men colleagues and have ‘captained’ their respective choppers during the relief operations in some of the most inhospitable terrains after the tremor. Many inhabited areas are still cut off from the rest of the country due to landslides, and have been kept on life-support through air bridges.

Flight-Lieutenant Arunima Vidhate, a 26-year-old pilot who has clocked in over 350 hours of flying the Cheetahs and Chetaks, said her first sortie middle of last week was for carrying out a recce of the quake-hit areas to provide valuable inputs to the rescuers to reach the remote corners.

She also guided relief workers to reach the landslide spots to clear the roads for rescuers to move in.

Vidhate, who has been in the air force for four years now, is a captain of her flying machine.

So is 25-year-old Poornima Ranade, who too has clocked in 250 hours on the Cheetahs and Chetaks.

‘We carry out sorties from sunrise to sunset. I have done some sorties to provide food supplies to tiny villages in remote corners of north Sikkim,’ says Ranade.

‘The joy you see in the eyes of the people and relief on their face when we reach them with supplies and medicines, it brings joy to me to. They are happy to see us, after remaining cut off and hopeless for hours,’ chips in Vidhate.

‘In fact, just hearing the sound of our rotors, the people on the ground gain in faith that there are people to take care of them in their worst times,’ she adds.

Ask her if the stranded people are surprised to see women piloting choppers coming to their rescue, Vidhate quickly responds: ‘Not anymore. People are now used to seeing women pilot airplanes and choppers. In fact, I have seniors who have done this for a decade now.’

35 Tourists to North Sikkim Airlifted by IAF

MANGAN/GANGTOK: Thirty-five tourists, including two from Norway, were airlifted on Wednesday by the Army from Lachung village, one of the worst-hit quake areas in Sikkim.

Also airlifted were 16 people injured in the quake, army sources said.

The tourists, some of whom were wounded, were airlifted from Ringzim helipad here.

Paljor Lachungpa, who is coordinating the evacuation, said Lachen was still cut off and more tourists could be airlifted from Chungthang later in the day. The tourists were in a state of shock.

Bishnupriya Dutta, a housewife from Bhubaneswar touring Sikkim with eight family members, including two children, was barely able to narrate the harrowing experience.

She was on way to Lachung from Lachen when the quake struck. "The car was shaking violently and the driver said there was a earthquake ... We were all terribly scared."

Dutta, who along with her family was staying at an army camp at Bichhu for the past three nights, said, "On way here today I saw a large number of houses damaged and the roads had caved in ... I thanked God".

Asked whether she would return to Sikkim in future, her answer was "Never."

"I cannot forget all my life the fear and the pitch darkness of that night when the quake struck and we moved to Bichhu for shelter in the army camp," she said.

Toll mounts : Meanwhile, the death toll in the state rose to 60 overnight with seven more bodies recovered from East and North Sikkim. Official sources said today that six bodies were recovered from East Sikkim.

The overall deaths in the Sunday disaster has crossed 90, with 18 deaths reported from other parts of the country, eight in Nepal and seven in southern Tibet.

However, a bus missing with 24 passengers and crew has been rescued from Tung with all but one passenger alive.

Army, NDRF and disaster management personnel walked to Tung, between quake epi-centre Mangan and worst-hit Chungthang and rescued the people in the bus last night, the sources said.

Rescue teams are yet to reach Chungthang which is in the mountains.

Villagers of Dikchu Valley were very worried in the absence of any communication from their menfolk who work in the Teesta project at Chungthang, which is about 12 km away, since the calamity struck.

A large number of houses had either collapsed or were badly damaged by Sunday's temblor and at least 10 major cracks were seen on the Singtam-Dikchu road.

Most of the people in Dikchu are staying in open areas for fear of aftershocks.

There was, however, no threat to the Teesta hydel project stage 5, situated here as the NHPC authorities had opened the sluice gates and the water level had gone down, sources in the company said.