The Navy, IAF and Coast Guard have deployed more than 15 aircraft and helicopters besides ships having make-shift hospitals for relief and rescue operations at the Kerala temple fire. Services have also put its doctors on standby and will help the civil administration in providing medical relief.
Giving details of the rescue efforts, officials said here on Sunday the IAF will also use its transport aircraft for ferrying relief material. The IAF, so far has deployed four helicopters including MI-17 and Advanced light Helicopters(AlH) besides six light aircraft and may increase these numbers depending on the evolving situation, they said.
The Indian Navy has stationed one Dornier aircraft and two AlHs with medical teams from the Southern Naval Command, officials said. Moreover, the Navy has deputed three ships INS Kabra, Kalpeni and
INS Sunayna with medical stores to Kollam coast to provide medical assistance to the injured.
They will be deployed in consultation with local administrative authorities, a Navy spokesperson said. Surgical teams were also put on standby at the Naval command hospital in Kochi, he said.
The Coast Guard sent a ship and a helicopter along with a medical team to Kollam for relief work and officials said the Coast Guard station at Vizhinjam, located near Thiruvananthapuram, was in touch with local authorities for assistance.
As regards IAF, it pressed into service ten aircraft and helicopters to transport to hospitals the seriously injured. Officials said efforts were on to airlift the victims as fast as possible to nearby hospitals at Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram adding all the ten aircraft and helicopters were deployed in air ambulance role.
The aircraft were operating in close coordination with local authorities under overall command of Southern Air Command as the Nodal Operational Centre. National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams from Arakkonam near Chennai in Tamil Nadu and medical teams were also being brought to provide timely medical relief to the victims.