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IAF helicopters evacuate casualties of fuel tanker explosion in Congo
New Delhi, July 6, 2010
Three Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters flew 13 sorties to airlift as many as 32 seriously injured people from the scene of an accident in Congo's South Kivu Province where a fuel tanker loaded with gasoline overturned and exploded on the night of July 2.
An official press release said the mishap occurred at Sange village, 36 km from the town of Uvira.
The accident occured at a spot close to houses and commercial shops and the ensuing fire caused a large number of casualties.
According to the release, the total number of dead was put at about 230 by various news agencies and more than 190 people, including women and children, suffered injuries. Many of them had severe burns.
On July 3 morning, the IAF helicopters on the UN Mission in Congo, based at Bukavu, the provincial capital, were tasked to carry out casualty evacuation of the seriously injued patients from Sange to Bukavu as no medical facilities were available near the scene of the tragedy.
Two helicopters were tasked for Casualty Evacuation role while a third was tasked with carrying various senior UN officials to the site. All three helicopters were promptly airborne for the task; the first helicopter dropped the officials at the site and cleared the helipad and positioned itself at the UN Heliport in Uvira for the other two helicopters to carry out the evacuation mission. A total of three shuttles were flown by these two helicopters and all the seriously injured patients were airlifted directly to Camp Siao helipad in Bukavu Town for further treatment.
A total of 32 serious burn casualties were airlifted by the three helicopters in 13 sorties towards this mission. While two aircraft landed back at Bukavu late in the evening on the same day having accomplished the task, the third recovered back at Bukavu in the morning on July 4 after having stayed overnight at the UN Heliport in Uvira town.
The prompt response by the IAF helicopters had been appreciated by all agencies concerned, the release added.
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