JAMMU: World famous ski resort of Gulmarg offers wonderful slopes, dense forests, gondola ride and more to tourists frequenting the area located in Baramulla district of Union Territory of J&K. For a few years now, it also offers tourists with deep pockets helicopter rides so that they can see the snow and dense deodar forests from atop.
A private company provides the helicopter services and so far everything has gone on smoothly. The helicopter owned by the company takes tourists on joy ride to peaks far beyond what is possible to reach on foot. The Gulmarg resort is located at a height of 8,500 feet above the mean sea level (MSL). However, the helicopter ride can take the tourists to a location as much as 14,000 feet, far higher. In that area, the weather can pack up (turn nasty) very fast and it is much colder than it is at Gulmarg.
On Friday, the civilian helicopter dropped 25 tourists in repeated sorties at what is known as Sun Shine peak area, located at 14,000 feet. However, it developed a technical snag which could not be set right and that set in panic. As it is not possible for the tourists to undertake the arduous walk from 14,000 feet to 8,500 feet through dense forests. It was then that the civil administration turned to police, who in turn asked the Army to launch an urgent rescue mission.
Subsequently, in a daring, swift and meticulously coordinated rescue operation, helicopters of Chinar Warriers, under 15 Corps located in Badami Bagh Cantonment, stepped in. In close synergy with Jammu & Kashmir Police, district administration of Baramulla and the Gulmarg Development Authority (GDA), the choppers flown in by the Army pilots successfully rescued all 25 tourists stranded at Sunshine Peak at 14,000 feet, Gulmarg. Due to a technical malfunction in civil helicopter that had ferried them to the peak, these tourists got stranded amidst rapidly deteriorating weather conditions, dense cloud cover and hazardous mountainous terrain.
The main effort of the operation was undertaken by Army Aviation pilots and air crew, who displayed exceptional courage, precision and professional acumen. They flew in these sturdy birds through adverse weather, poor visibility and unpredictable mountain conditions to execute precision landings on treacherous snowbound terrain at high altitude.
Braving extreme operational challenges, narrow landing zones and rapidly changing climatic conditions, the team ensured the safe evacuation and extraction of all stranded tourists without any casualty. The operation stands as a testimony to the professionalism, operational preparedness, seamless inter-agency coordination and unwavering humanitarian commitment of the Indian Army and all associated civil agencies, reaffirming their steadfast resolve towards safeguarding civilian lives even in the most adverse and unforgiving circumstances.
The tourists, from different parts of the country, were extricated from what could have turned down to be critical situation because of the urgency and swiftness shown by the Army Aviation people. A rescue team had to be assembled and kept ready for a possible foot evacuation had the weather turned worse than what it already was, according to some officials.
The Army helicopters took nearly three hours to complete the mission of evacuation of all the tourists. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah praised the swift and coordinated response of the Army and the civil administration.
