New Delhi, Sep 14 (ANI): The Indian Air Force team on Sunday rescued and evacuated 19 members of the Army Mountaineering Expedition team from the Pin Parbati pass in Himachal Pradesh with the help of Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv.

According to a press release of the Indian Air Force, this is the first ever-recorded mission carried out by the ALH Dhruv helicopter at high altitudes.

The Army’s mountaineering team that was on expedition to the Pin Parbati pass situated at a height of 14,600 feet from mean sea level (MSL), stranded in the treacherous glaciated terrain in the higher Himalayan hills due to incessant rains, heavy snowfall and bad weather.

The pilots of the Delhi based Western Air Command rescued the expedition team, which was stranded for the last five days.

An ALH Dhruv captained by Wg Cdr Nikhil Naidu with co-pilot Wg Cdr U.K.S. Bhaduria led the air rescue mission assisted by three cheetah copters of the Army Aviation Corps.

Though the degree of difficulty of the mission was very high, the experienced IAF pilots rescued the stranded team by means of conducting low hover pickups, press release stated.

A total of 12 personnel were rescued by a single Dhruv copter in three sorties and the Army’s Cheetah helicopters rescued the rest seven personnel, the press release said. (ANI)