Behind the Scenes of a Rescue

For all those who get the impression that people in the government, especially in state government, are slow, indifferent, and have thick skins will perhaps change their minds after they read about something what we did last week. What we did last week wasn’t unusual for us in this department but at the same time wasn’t so common. It was also another occasion I got an idea of what lives cops, doctors and all those who work in such professions lead. It was also something that made me a bit proud about my colleagues in the state government. Last week, because of the government’s swift response, three people perhaps lived to see another day.

On Saturday evening I was just about to reach home when I got a call on my mobile. They wanted me back at the office. It was almost eight and I just had a long day at the office and was looking forward to an early dinner and going to bed early as I felt a fever develop. I was told there was a message from one of the districts about people trapped in a river and who had to be rescued. The air force had to be called in, and for those who do not know, such a rescue just doesn’t happen like that. There is a procedure for it which has to be followed no matter what.


To cut a long story short, I returned to office. When I got to the office and had it opened, the message was from Karimnagar about three shepherds trapped after water was released suddenly from a full dam. They could only be airlifted from the swift waters. I had three people in the office to help me. We quickly typed out a message to the control room at Delhi at about half past eight asking for assistance. We called the air force people and gave them the same message. We told the district people that we had passed on their message. In less than half hour Delhi contacted the air force and gave the go ahead for the rescue by the IAF. But it could be done only in the morning since helicopters do not fly in the night. Our jobs done we went back home. There was another hitch which one of my bosses solved by sheer persistence until late in the night.

Next day morning I learnt that even before the IAF choppers took off the district administration got hold of boats and rescued two people. Only one guy couldn’t be rescued by the boat and was left marooned. Only the choppers who got there soon after picked him up and brought him to safety. I had a fear that by morning I would get the news that the three people had been washed away in the darkness. But the story had a happy ending with the three people being rescued.

On Monday there were heaps of messages lying around- the message from Delhi to IAF, the message from IAF to us about the rescue, the message from the district people about how the three people were rescued. I learnt that the local revenue officials spent the whole night by the side of the canal trying to be keep up the morale of the three people out there in the middle of the fast flowing and dangerous waters. We did not do much except transmit the message and I think it is these government people in Karimnagar who deserve the credit.

It felt good to have played a small and insignificant part in the rescue of people who you don’t know and people you may not ever meet.