Important role of helicopters in flood rescue operation in Nepal

Nepal's Prime Minister Balen Shah told the Parliament on Wednesday that immediately after the sudden flood, the first helicopter of Nepali Army had left for rescue.

Amidst the chaos in the flood-affected areas, Nepal Army spokesperson Rajaram Basnet said that the government got the first information about the exact extent of damage caused by the flood through helicopters.

Basnet told the BBC: "On the first day, four of our helicopters started flying immediately. An MI-17 helicopter took a team of 20 doctors and at 11:30 in the morning a medical base was set up there."

He said, "A rescue operation on such a large scale has never been conducted before in Nepal. This is the first time that such a large rescue operation has been conducted by building an air base in such a small airfield."

At a press conference on Tuesday, Home Minister Sudhan Gurung said it would "probably be the largest operation ever conducted in Nepal."

Meanwhile, more than 4,000 people have been rescued by air through hundreds of flights by army and private helicopters in the last one week. The Army has said that 717 flights were operated under its leadership alone.

It is reported that about two dozen helicopters of the private sector and seven helicopters of the army took part in the rescue operation at different times.

Helicopters provide hope in critical situations

According to Chief District Officer of Rasuwa, Narendra Pariyar, even before noon on the day of flood, roads in many areas were completely cut off and road connectivity was lost there.

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Pariyar told the BBC, "After that, everyone's only hope were helicopters. Initially there were very few places where helicopters could land. But this gave hope to many people. They felt that they would not be left helpless in this ordeal."

To maintain coordination in the rescue system from one place and avoid any kind of confusion, it was decided to deploy helicopters under the command of Nepal Army.

"We flew repeatedly around the Nuwakot barracks," Captain Maniraj Lama of Kailash Helicopters told the BBC.

"The view below was very scary. This was an unusual situation even for helicopters. Many helicopters were flying together in a small valley. Depending on the need, sometimes we would fly alone, and sometimes two helicopters would fly together."

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In the initial days, the main work of helicopters was to rescue people and transport security personnel and relief teams. But now they are being used for all types of work, from removing dead bodies to delivering relief material.

Pilots say that in recent times the bodies have started decomposing. To avoid health risks, they are being rescued by hanging them from a rope attached to a helicopter, called a 'longline'.

Lama said that in the initial days, due to so many people being trapped together, the most difficult task was to give priority to the people most in danger.

He said, "It is very difficult to work in such circumstances keeping in mind the feelings and sensitivities of the people."

Captain Bimal Sharma of Cymric Air says that he has never seen so much movement in the sky during the rescue operation of helicopters.

Sharma says, "Even during the climbing season, there is a lot of crowd on Everest, but then it is clear where to go and what to do. Here even the coordinates given to us did not match properly. We have to search nearby."

He further says, "At some places where we were asked to land, there was no place to land."

busy air traffic in small space

Pilots Bimal Sharma and Maniraj Lama, who spoke to BBC, said that they had flown many times between the Chinese border and Trishuli in such a situation, where more than a dozen helicopters were present simultaneously.

Bimal says, "The number of helicopters in such a narrow valley is very high. That is why we pilots have made some rules and stay in touch with each other. Like, while flying in the valley, stay on the left side, tell your position to other helicopters flying nearby and maintain the fixed distance and altitude between each other while maintaining direct contact with each other."

Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) spokesperson Gyanendra Bhul says there is no separate airport in the flood-hit area, so the helicopters contacted Kathmandu's Tribhuvan Airport and took off "with pilot-to-pilot coordination".

Bhul says, "In that 'uncontrolled' airspace, it was the responsibility of the pilots to keep an eye on the ground, pay attention to visibility and maintain distance from each other. But drones are also becoming a challenge."

"Right now the biggest challenge for helicopters there are drones. The situation is not very serious, but it seems that it needs to be handled."

He says that in a rapidly changing climate, no matter how good coordination is, there will always be risks.

Describing his experience, Lama said, "However, when all contact was lost, the helicopters flying in the sky gave people a mental assurance that the rescue operation was going on and they would definitely come to save me sooner or later."

"Such hope also sustains people in these disasters. Therefore, for a country with a complex geographical situation like Nepal, helicopters are no less than a boon."

Army spokesperson Rajaram Basnet says that 'light helicopters' have proved to be very effective in areas with narrow airspace and complex geographical structure like Rasuwa-Nuwakot.

role of experienced pilot

Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) spokesperson Gyanendra Bhul said that the pilots in Rasuwa exercised utmost caution and demonstrated their ability and responsibility well.

According to him, during the tourism and mountaineering season, 150 to 200 helicopter flights take place daily from airports like Kathmandu and Lukla.

Bhul said, "These are chartered flights. But at the time of disaster, we have kept humanity above all else. Therefore, some rules have been relaxed a bit to help in the rescue operations. However, there was no compromise on the safety of the flight."

For this reason, helicopters are proving to be one of the most effective means of rescue in Nepal during emergencies. Experienced pilots who know the difficult mountainous terrain and geography of Nepal well are also playing a big role in this.