KOCHI: Thirteen days. Around 300 hours of flying. It has been a mammoth rescue operation for the 350-member air operations team at INS Garuda, the first naval air station of the Indian Navy. The aircraft - Dornier (fixed wing), Advanced Light Helicopter, Sea King and Chetak helicopters - have been scouring the Arabian Sea from the Kerala coast to Lakshadweep shore locating survivors and shifting them to safety.
It was on November 29 night, Cyclone Ockhi swept past the Kerala coast leaving behind a trail of death and destruction. On November 30, the Indian Navy launched a massive search and rescue operation deploying ships and aircraft from Southern Naval Command, Kochi, to locate fishermen stranded at sea and save them.
The entire air operations were coordinated by INS Garuda led by Commodore R R Iyer. Senior Air Traffic Control Officer Thirumalai spent 24 hours without a break monitoring the radar and facilitating the smooth conduct of the rescue operations on December 1. The operation necessitated a round-the clock coordinated functioning of multiple agencies - the aviation operations room, which maintains a check on the safety of the aircraft in air, the constant vigil by the naval ATC monitoring day and night flying and deconflicting it with the routine civil flights from Nedumbassery airport.
The safety equipment section ensured regular servicing of life jackets and serviceability check of other safety equipment on board before every sortie. The Lt Commander was in charge of the operations room while Master Chief Petty Officer Gopalamu ensured the serviceability of the safety gear. The search and rescue operation code named ‘Operation Sahayam’ is still under way.
The maritime patrol aircraft Boeing P8I from Arakkonam Naval Air Station and Dornier fixed wing aircraft from INS Garuda scoured the sea and reported the position of survivors and capsized boats. Based on the information provided by the surveillance aircraft, the helicopters Sea King and ALH located them and rescued them. It was a strenuous task locating the survivors sliding down a rescue strop and hoisting the survivor up to the aircraft.
The personnel from INS Garuda worked relentlessly saving the survivors from the rough sea and flying them to the shore. Considering the emergency situation, the Naval helicopters were hot re-fuelling at Thiruvananthapuram without switching off their engines. The crew also flew beyond the fatigue limits in poor visibility, heavy rain and swell, saving the lives of 51 stranded fishermen on December 1 alone.
Flight Diver Vijay Varma cut three of his fingers during a winching operation, but continued picking up survivors despite his injury. The next day was again action-packed for the air crew and ground staff at INS Garuda. The Sea King brought eight survivors with one of them in a critical condition.
The search and rescue operation continued with the support from the maintenance and logistic personnel and the technical team worked overnight to keep the aircraft serviceable for launch by first light. An officer integral to the operations room said extensive air efforts were possible only due to the seamless coordination between the Maritime Operations Centre (MOC), Joint Operations Centre (JOC) and the Garuda Operations Room. The Air Traffic Control played a stellar role in controlling the aircraft in a limited area and height band. The mission for ‘Team Garuda’ - a very vital asset of Southern Naval Command - continues in its indomitable spirit to save the lives of our fishermen stranded at sea.