Aditya Hore
RAIPUR, August 17: In a swift operation, a 43-year-old man was rescued by an Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopter on Monday after he spent over 12 hours clinging to a tree amid overflowing water discharged from a dam in Chhattisgarh’s Bilaspur district, according to Bilaspur Superintendent of Police Prashant Agrawal.
The man Jitendra Kashyap had reportedly jumped into the weir (built to remove excess water) of Khutaghat dam on Sunday evening and was swept away in the strong current. Fortunately for him, he managed to get hold of a small rock and a tree where he remained stuck for more than 12 hours before being rescued on Monday morning, he added.
Here’s the video of the rescue operation:
After getting information about the man being stranded in the weir of the Khutaghat dam, a rescue operation was immediately launched with the support of the State Disaster Response Force team.
Rescue teams of the South Eastern Coalfields Limited and the National Thermal Power Corporation were also roped in, the official said. “Heavy flow of water and bad weather hampered the rescue operation. As the man was stuck far from the embankment, we could not reach him in the night. We later requested assistance from the IAF,” he said.
The MI-17 helicopter took off from Raipur at 5.49 am and airlifted the man at 6.37 am. It took around 20 minutes for the rescue operation before landing back in the state capital at 7.35 am, the official said. He was later admitted in a private hospital in Raipur where his condition was reported to be stable, Agrawal said.
