56 BSF personnel among 308 persons rescued by Army in Jammu-Pathankot sector

Jammu: The Army on Thursday deployed 20 columns to speed up rescue operations from Jammu to Gurdaspur, evacuating 308 persons, including 56 BSF personnel, in areas of Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab, officials said.

With this, the number of persons rescued since Tuesday has risen to 943.

The Rising Star Corps continues relentless rescue operations in flood-hit Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Pathankot, and Gurdaspur districts of J-K and Punjab, officials said.

They said the Army deployed 20 columns in these operations and rescued 308 persons, including 50 children of an orphanage in R S Pura, and 56 BSF personnel.

With this, 943 persons, including 21 CRPF personnel, have been rescued, while provisioning of essential supplies and medicines has been ensured to the affected populations, along with swift restoration of vital data connectivity in Jammu, they said.

Bolstering the flood relief efforts on ground, GOC Rising Star Corps interacted with troops and Army Aviation personnel, commending their relentless commitment, they added.

In a swift humanitarian effort, a helicopter of the security forces evacuated 16 critical patients, including 13 locals, from the inaccessible flood-hit terrain of Pargwal, they said.

The patients, including pregnant women, dialysis patients, and burn injury cases, were shifted to civil hospitals.