For the second time during Operation Kaveri, in another daring act Indian Air Force (IAF) has once again carried out a tactical rescue mission to bring out 192 Indians from war torn Sudan in Africa. The mission started in the midnight hours of May 3-4 in which IAF’s military transport aircraft C-17 Globemaster aircraft took off from Hindan Air Force base. This aircraft flew non-stop from Hindon all the way to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. In Jeddah the plane stopped over for refueling before it took off again straight to Sudan and from there back to India.
Mission one of its kind: IAF
To avoid refueling delays in Sudan and also the possibility of non-availability, the C-17 took excess fuel from Jeddah.
According to the details shared by the IAF, this was a mission one of its kind as the aircraft was carrying around 192 passengers which were mostly women, elderly people (were either NRIs, foreign nationals or Overseas Citizens of India), and children.
Since they were not allowed to land in Jeddah, the military aircraft flew directly to India. This was a nonstop flight by the heavy jet.
Mission at Sudan
On reaching Sudan, the aircraft, according to IAF carried out an overhead steep tactical arrival and to land the heavy aircraft it followed an assault approach. The aircraft engines were kept running in readiness during the entire duration of the ground operations. This was done so just in case a quick exit was required.
Unplanned Emergency
One of the passengers became unconscious during the flight and this situation, according to the IAF, was handled immediately by the crew which administered Oxygen to stabilize the passenger.
On May 4, late evening the C-17 which flew all the way back from Sudan landed Ahmedabad. And the same night it returned to its base at Hindon – the crew flew for almost 24 hours to get the last batch of the stranded Indian citizens from war torn Sudan.
Previous daring missions
In the last week of April in a daring rescue operation IAF evacuated 121 people from a small airstrip at Wadi Sayyidna. This airstrip is located in the north of Sudan’s capital Khartoum. This operation was carried out on the night of April 27-28 and among those rescued there was a pregnant woman who had no means of reaching Port Sudan.
Electro-optical and infrared sensors were used by the C-130J. These were used to ensure a safe landing and take-off using night vision goggles on a dark night. Why? Because the airstrip had no navigational aid, no landing lights to aid the aircraft to land and no fuel.
Once the plane had landed the engines were kept running and there were eight IAF Garud Commandos who secured the passengers and their luggage in the aircraft. The whole mission from Wadi Sayyidna and Jeddah lasted two and a half hours.
In 2021, it was reported that the IAF had carried out a similar operation to evacuate Indians from Kabul, when Afghanistan fell to Taliban 2.0.