IAF Officer Dangles From Chopper to Rescue Toddler, Mother in Dramatic Rescue Op in Kerala

Alapuzza, Kerala: With over 6.33 lakh people taking shelter in 3,000 relief camps, several organisations and individuals have turned out to be angels in disguise when they undertook dramatic rescue missions to save lives.

One such rescue operation was carried out by Wing Commander Prasanth of Air Force's Garud Special Force, who rescued a toddler and his mother from the rooftop of their flood-hit home in Alappuzha on Sunday.

On Sunday morning an Prasanth dangled from an IAF chopper to winch up the toddler from the rooftop of a flood-ravaged house, followed by the mother.

The video of this rescue mission by the Air Force personnel was shared widely across social media platforms and won hearts, too.

The spokesperson of Defence, Trivandrum tweeted the video, applauding the IAF personnel.

The official handle of Indian Air Force also tweeted the video of the incident.

Similarly, on Friday, the Coast Guard and few Army personnel rescued an infant and his mother near the Idukki dam.

The officer who led the rescue team told news agency PTI that the operation began after a call from the Mumbai Coast Guard about rising water level in the Idukki dam area. "We were in the weekly commanders' conference at Kochi, when a call came from the Coast Guard office in Mumbai, to send the best team near the dam, where water was flowing above the danger level," said Lieutenant Colonel Shashikant Waghmode.

Over a last few days, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), IAF and the Navy have evacuated nearly thousands of stranded flood victims.

The National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) in its review meeting directed that focus should now be on provision of emergency supplies of food, water, medicines and restoration of essential services such as power, fuel, telecom and transport links as flood water recedes in Kerala, an official spokesperson said.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said atotal of 6,33,010 people are staying in 2,971 relief camps in Kerala and around 38,000 flood affected people have also been rescued by different agencies so far.

"Rainfall will further decrease during the next five days. Heavy rain at one or two places in Idukki, Konnur and Kozhikode districts likely today. No heavy rain from tomorrow for the next four days," the NDMA said, quoting a bulletin of the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The government on Sunday directed the central ministries to focus on providing essential commodities and medicine and restoration of vital services in flood-hit Kerala.

There will be no heavy rains in the flood-hit Kerala for the next four days, giving a ray of hope to the distraught people of the state.

Meanwhile, the Department of Food and Public Distribution has made available 50,000 metric tonnes of food grains (rice and wheat) to meet the immediate needs with additional quantities in the pipeline, an official spokesperson said after the NCMC meeting.