An IAF helicopter during resuce operations on Sunday. (Express)MORE THAN 300 salt pan workers who were trapped in floodwaters near Hajipir area on the Indo-Pakistan international border in Kutch district were rescued by teams of NDRF and Indian Air Force helicopters late Sunday evening. The IAF airlifted 123 of the workers while the others were taken to safety using boats and vehicles, officials said.
Government officials of Kutch district said that 319 workers of Satyesh Brinechem Private Limited were trapped around 20 km inside the desert early Sunday when the Nara dam overflowed and water from Fulay and other areas flooded the saltpans. The workers of the bromine-manufacturing company were cut off for around 24 hours as roads were submerged or damaged and mobile networks down, officials said.
Sub-divisional Magistrate of Nakhatrana in Kutch, Govindsinh Rathod, told The Indian Express on Monday that he had received a distress call from a relative of one of the workers later on Sunday. “I received a phone-call from a resident of Nakhtrana informing me that his brother and a dozen other workers had not returned from the salt pans,” the SDM said. “When we reached the spot with an NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) team, we found that not only a dozen but more than 300 people were trapped in the floodwaters.”
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Rathod said that the NDRF had only one inflatable boat and that the road…
