Air Force Evacuates Injured French Bikers From Leh

The Air Warriors of the Indian Air Force, switched into the role of saviours on Friday when they evacuated a seriously injured woman adventurer from Leh.

Bresson Florence, 50 and her husband Christophe were on a road trip in Leh, on motorcycles, when they met with an accident and the lady suffered serious injuries. She was immediately taken to the army hospital nearby and, then shifted to Sonam Norbu Memorial Hospital at Leh and admitted to the ICU due to her critical condition. Her husband also suffered minor injuries.

A request was extended by the Embassy of France at New Delhi to evacuate the patient to Chandigarh or Delhi as she suffered serious head injuries and was referred to a neurosurgeon.

The Air Force promptly swung into action and a C-17 Globemaster aircraft was prepared for launch with at Patient Transfer Unit (PTU), a mobile ICU. However, the weather at Leh on Thursday afternoon did not permit the aircraft to land.

Today morning, the C-17 aircraft, on a routine sortie, from Chandigarh landed at Leh with the PTU, to which Bresson was transferred. Simultaneously a C-130 Hercules aircraft was also launched from Hindon reached Leh, and took off with the patient accompanied by her husband and other medicare personnel.

The evacuation of the casualty was successfully completed when the C-130 ac landed at Palam, Delhi with the patient. She was then transferred to a specialised hospital at New Delhi.

Talking about the entire evacuation operation the Air Officer Commanding of the Chandigarh, Air Commodore S Srinivasan said, "It was an apprehensive moment for us when due to weather we could not launch the aircraft last evening. Our medical fraternity was in constant touch with the doctors at Leh and at the first opportune moment both the aircraft were launched and mission executed successfully".