The Indian Air Force (IAF) had been increasingly involved, of late, in lifting critically injured victims from road accidents involving a large number of passengers from various spots in Chhattisgarh during the past one-and-a-half months.
On Wednesday, the IAF sent its two MI-17 choppers on a request made by the Chhattisgarh Government to airlift victims of a major bus accident which occurred 200 km north of Raipur in Balrampur district , a Defence Ministry press release informed.
The mishap had left 12 persons dead and 35 injured when a bus carrying them fell off a bridge on Balrampur Ambikapur National Highway late on Wednesday night.
Previously, the MI-17s airlifted mishap victims from the accident spots in Antagarh region of Kanker district on April 15 and Sukma district on April 18 for bringing them to Raipur for advanced medical treatment.
The request for casualty evacuation was received and IAF responded promptly wherein two Mi-17 helicopters were launched within an hour to evacuate critically injured passengers from the accident site in Balrampur district, the press release informed.
The Advanced landing Ground at Ambikapur was used for this purpose. Thirteen critically injured passengers were evacuated to Raipur, it informed.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Raman Singh on Thursday morning visited Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Hospital here and met injured passengers of a bus accident that took place in Balrampur-Ramanujganj district late on Wednesday night.
Singh enquired doctors about health condition of the injured victims and directed them to provide best possible medical treatment to the patients.
The Chief Minister went to each patient and asked them about their health. As a doctor himself, he also checked their pulse to know about their health.
late on Wednesday night a private passenger bus coming from Gadwa area of Jharkhand State fell from a bridge near District Headquarters Balrampur of Chhattisgarh, in which 14 passengers died on spot and many passengers were injured.
The Chief Minister has expressed profound grief on the accident and has empathized with the families of the deceased. Three of the critically injured victims succumbed to the pain while on the way to hospital.
Singh has announced financial aid of Rs 25 thousand for family of each of the deceased in the accident. As soon as the incident was reported, the Chief Minister asked CRPF personnel to reach the accident spot in helicopter of Indian Air Force for rescue and relief operations and for bringing injured victims to Raipur.
Soon after the incident was reported late night, Chief Minister Raman Singh called up his counterpart Chief Minister of neighbouring state Jharkhand Raghuvar Das on telephone and assured that the injured passengers of Gadhwa will be provided complete medical treatment. Most of the injured passengers are from Jharkhand state.
The Chief Minister was accompanied by Secretary Public Relations Santosh Misra and Collector Raipur OP Choudhary.
Singh praised District Administration of Balrampur-Ramanujganj District Administration, Indian Air Force and CRPF for their immediate action and coordination in rescuing the injured passengers and bringing them to Raipur via helicopter.