IAF airlifted 662 stranded passengers between Srinagar-Leh & Kupwara-Tangdhar

Srinagar, March 10 (Scoop News) – On the intervention of  Chief Minister J&K, 662 stranded passengers were airlifted between Srinagar-Leh and Kupwara-Tangdhar today in IAF aircrafts. One serious patient was also airlifted from a remote village of Munay (Zanaskar) to Leh in an air force Cheetah helicopter.

Aamir Ali,Coordinator, Disaster Management,Kashmir said that 540 stranded passengers of Kargil were airlifted from Srinagar to Leh in IL-76 aircraft of IAF today. Due to constant cancellation of the Kargil Courier between Srinagar/Jammu & Kargil due to inclement weather, the stranded passengers had got piled up and had represented  Chief Minister J&K for arranging a special IL-76 flight. 260 passengers were airlifted in the first sorty and 280 in the second.

AN-32 aircraft between Jammu & Kargil could not operate due to a technical snag in the aircraft, after take-off. The Kargil bound passengers at Jammu airport got agitated and protested against the cancellation of the flight. IAF has assured that subject to weather AN-32 aircraft will be deployed exclusively between Jammu and Kargil for airlifting the stranded passengers on Friday. Efforts are being made to arrange IL-76 aircraft between Jammu and Leh, subject to availability of aircraft.

Meanwhile, Indian Air force (IAF) also deployed Mi-17 aircraft which made three sorties each between Kupwara & Tanghdar and 112 passengers were airlifted today. 55 passengers were airlifted from Kupwara to Tangdhar and 57 from Tangdhar to Kupwara. The pilot of the aircraft made an aerial reccee of Macchil area but was unable to land.

The airlifted passengers appreciated  Chief Minister J&K, Mr Omar Abdullah, Transport Minister, Mr Qamar Ali Akhoon, Chief Executive Counsellor, LAHDC Kargil,  Kachu Ahmed Ali Khan, MLA Tangdhar, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Dr Asgar Hassan Samoon,  AOC, Indian Air Force, J&K Udhampur, Air Vice Marshall,  PS Gill (AVSM,VSM), and Commissioner, Civil Aviation J&K,  Katoch for their effort and have requested that additional sorties be provided for airlifting the stranded passengers at  Jammu.

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