Army Commander: Army Mobilised Over 150 Personnel For Rescue Operation After Air India Plane Crash

The Army responded swiftly to the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad last month, mobilising more than 150 personnel within minutes for the rescue operation, a senior official said here on Thursday.

Disaster relief is no longer an episodic task and has become an operational reality that must be 'planned for, trained for, and seamlessly executed,' said Southern Army Commander Lieutenant General Dhiraj Seth.

He was speaking at a high-level symposium on 'Role of Corps of Engineers in National Disaster Management Framework: Risk, Resilience and Response' at the College of Military Engineering here.

The event brought together senior leadership from the Army, National Disaster Management Authority, State Disaster Management Authorities and key institutions involved in national disaster response framework.

Given the vast footprint of the Indian Army across the length and breadth of the country, it is often best positioned to respond to natural or other disasters, even becoming the first responders when civilian capacity is overwhelmed, Lieutenant General Seth said.

Within minutes of the crash of Air India AI-171 at Ahmedabad, in which more than 250 persons were killed, "we had over 150 personnel from the military station, comprising engineers, medical, firefighting and QRT mobilised...The General Officer Commanding of the division based at Ahmedabad himself was at the crash site within minutes," he said.

The prompt decision to breach the wall between the military hospital and the B K Medical College which was struck by the crashed aircraft helped in saving precious lives of those trapped within the college complex, Seth said.

Over the past decade, the scale and frequency of natural disasters have visibly increased, Seth said.

"They are no longer sporadic events, but recurring disruptions with serious national consequences. The floods in Assam, the landslides in Himachal and Wayanad, the cloudbursts in Uttarakhand, and the cyclones along both the coasts are stark reminders of this growing challenge," he added.

India suffered economic losses of over $12 billion in 2024, well above the previous 10-year average of $8 billion, due to natural disasters, Seth said.

The Corps of Engineers has emerged as a 'critical enabler' in relief work, he said, adding that from bridging broken links in Wayanad or enabling urban flood relief in Pune to supporting India's international humanitarian outreach during Operation Brahma in Myanmar, military engineers have consistently demonstrated exceptional versatility, technical proficiency and competence.

In Wayanad, the engineer task force of 200 personnel worked incessantly to erect a 130-feet-long Bailey Bridge in less than 48 hours, which included airlifting the bridge from Delhi to connect the affected towns of Chudalwala and Bandokai village, Seth said.

"This bridge remains even deployed today in the area as a lifeline for those villagers," he added.

Disaster management is not just a humanitarian concern but is related to 'core national security issues', Seth said.