Army says it will stay till last person is evacuated

Army chief Gen Bikram Singh told reporters on Friday that army will continue their operations till all the people are evacuated from Uttarakhand.

“We are getting information that there may still be some survivors in certain areas. Like I am told, yesterday we had an input that in north of Badrinath there were some people, 40 of them. We had launched sorties yesterday but couldn’t detect them. We will be doing it again, if the weather permits. But endeavour is to locate all our citizens, wherever they are, and get them out,” Gen Singh said.

The rescue operations intensify as the weather improving in Uttarakhand on Friday and 17 helicopters being flown to rescue people from various locations in flood-hit Uttarakhand.

Gen Singh has praised efforts of over 8,000 Army personnel, along with the troops of the ITBP, NDRF and IAF.

“All the agencies have done their bit and let’s not count numbers. It was the synergy between all the agencies. The IAF has done a great job. There was a challenge as there were no roads and communication. I have come here to compliment the boys and give them ‘shabashi’,” he said.

“They are son of soils and large number of them are affected too. I must tell you these boys have refused to take leave to attend to their kith and kin and rather render their duties. We all had a phenomenal synergy,” Gen Singh added.

Gen Sing also loud the bravehearts who lost their valuable lives in the chopper crash.

“This was also an opportunity to offer my condolences to people who lost their lives in the chopper crash. My heart goes out to them,” he said.

Meanwhile mass cremation of bodies in Kedarnath, continues amidst fear of epidemic outbreak.

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