With surging COVID-19 cases in the country, Indian Air Force (IAF) comes to the rescue by air lifting and transporting oxygen, essential medicines and equipments to various areas in the country to fulfill the surging demands. The IAF transport aircrafts and helicopters have been pressed into service for carrying out these tasks. These include transport aircraft C-17, C-130J, IL-76, An-32 and Avro. Chinook and Mi-17 helicopters are on standby. Moreover, tasks undertaken by the IAF include airlift of doctors and nursing staff from Kochi, Mumbai, Vizag and Bangalore for various hospitals at Delhi.
The C-17 and IL-76 aircraft of IAF have started airlifting big empty oxygen tankers from their place of use to the filling stations across the country to speed up the distribution of much needed oxygen. Besidesthis, the C-17 and IL-76 have transported large quantities of load comprising bio safety cabinets and autoclave machines for setting up of an additional COVID test facility at Leh.
(With inputs from PIB)
