AFOVA New Letter 2 of Year 2021

Section 7 – Panorama CV 2 No. 02 / 2021 Page 288 of 332 16 Half Happy, Half Sad! Wg Cdr Raju Srinivasan Genre: Heliborne Rescue August 1981. Srinagar. I, along with Sqn Ldr DR Martin (131 FAC Flt) were manning a one-helicopter detachment. At about 1330 h, we received a message from the J&K Tourism Control Room saying a emergency evacuation is to be carried out at the Nun Kun massif. A Japanese mountaineering expedition had sent a distress message. We took off within 15 minutes for the rescue. Intense low clouds and thunderstorm around the Zozila Pass en-route to Nun Kun prevented us to proceed further. We returned with a heavy heart! Next morning, 11 August 1981, Srinagar had poor visibility and rain. However, by 1100 h, the weather improved just enough to attempt the evacuation. We a prayer in our lips we took off. It was marginal weather and we managed to reach Kargil. The Liaison Officer of the Japanese Mountaineering team, a officer from the ITBP, met us. After refueling, we, along with the LO, took off for the Advance Base Camp (ABC) of Mt Nun. The weather was gloomy with overcast and patches of snow and rain. After some diversion, we managed to reach the ABC. It was at 15700 feet (approx. 4800 meters), well into the interiors of snow-clad massif. We saw the expedition tents - red and orange colored and were looking for a place to land. It was raining and had perfect conditions of a white-out (also called 10