The IAF on Tuesday denied reports that it did not send its helicopters on Monday to evacuate casualties suffered by CRPF after an encounter with the Naxals which left 14 jawans dead in Chhattisgarh and said the decision to fly to the site on Tuesday taken jointly by the CRP and IAF.
Elaborating upon it, IAF sources said here the Task Force comprising officers of IAF and CRP got the message in Jagdalpur to evacuate casualties at 4.42 pm on Monday. Realising that by the time the MI-17 helicopters will reach the ambush site, it will be dark and the helicopters will have to land in dense jungles, they said.
Given the tough terrain and lack of clarity whether the landing zone was sanitised or not, the Task Force based decided to carry out the casualty evacuation on Tuesday, sources said. Sanitising entails securing an area of more than one km by the security forces on ground for the helicopter to land safely without coming under fire from Naxals, they said adding the drill is part of mutually-agreed Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).
The IAF helicopters brought all the casualties including dead and injured to Jagdalpur on Tuesday morning, they said adding the flying time from Jagdalpur to the encounter site in Chintalgupha is more than an hour. Sources pointed out that last month, the IAF had rescued four malaria patients in night from a nearby area in the dark.
Incidentally, on November 21 when the IAF was carrying out a rescue operation of CRPF personnel in the same area, the helicopter was fired upon by Naxals, as it took off, injuring two personnel on board and causing damage to the helicopter.
IAF has four MI-17 helicopters stationed in Chhattisgarh and two in Jharkhand for anti-naxal operations. IAF commandos known as Garudas fly in these helicopters during such operations to provide security cover, they said, adding the force is mandated to fire in self-defence only if it comes under fire.