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| On Board an Air Force Helicopter's |
| On Board an Air Force Helicopter's Mission in Flooded Jammu and Kashmir
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| INDIA
, 8-September-2014
12:38:56 PM |
| A group of pilots huddled this morning over a map at the tarmac of the air base in Jammu. Behind them, helicopters were being loaded with supplies that will, for many families, mean the difference between life and death.
The pilots conferred with each other about wind speeds, received weather reports over the radio. Then, 15 minutes later, a helicopter took off; we were in it.
The Air Force is operating in a continuum of sorties like the one we flew in today. Tireless pilots say their only limitation is time and the weather - formidable opponents as hundreds of villages wait in despair for food, blankets and medicines.
RelatedKashmir Floods: In Tit-For-Tat Gesture, Pakistan Offers to Help India With Relief Work
At Least 20,000 Rescued in Jammu and Kashmir: 10 Developments
The five days of pulverizing rain in Jammu and Kashmir forged treacherous landslides. Bridges have collapsed, roads have been swallowed whole. For thousands stranded in villages that are now impossible to reach, the whirring helicopters are lifelines. From the helicopter we're in, we can see families huddled on roofs.
Flying through the valleys, with mountains on both sides, the only indication that we could land somewhere is a plume of smoke. This is a signal sent by the Army that a small make-shift landing strip awaits. It looks postage stamp-sized as we descend.
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