New Delhi: In a daring operation carried out in the middle of the night, a C-130J special operations aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) rescued 121 people from a small airstrip at Wadi Sayyidna, about 40 km north of Khartoum in Sudan.
Those rescued included medical cases, a pregnant lady and people who had no means to reach Port Sudan.
Sources in the defence establishment said the Indian Defence Attaché led a convoy of these personnel to the small airstrip while being in continuous touch with IAF authorities all along.
The airstrip had a degraded surface, with no navigational approach aids, fuel and most critically — landing lights (required to guide an aircraft to land at night), sources said.
To land on the intervening night of 27-28 April, the aircrew used their electro-optical/infra red sensors to ensure that the runway was free from any obstructions and that no inimical forces were in the vicinity.
The aircrew then carried out a tactical approach on Night Vision Goggles (NVGs), on a practically dark night, the sources said.
Upon landing, the aircraft engines were kept on while eight IAF Garud Commandos secured the passengers and their luggage into the aircraft.
Similar to the landing, the take-off from the unlit runway was also carried out using NVGs.
Sources explained that the entire operation lasted for about two-and-half hours between Wadi Seidna in Sudan and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.
Buoyed by the success and complexity of the operation, sources said this will go down in the annals of IAF history for its “sheer audacity and flawless execution” – akin to that carried out in Kabul.
Incidentally, Reuters reported that Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) shot at a Turkish evacuation plane while it was landing at Wadi Seyidna airport outside Khartoum on Friday, damaging its fuel system.
Almost two weeks of fighting between the army and a rival paramilitary group in Sudan have left hundreds dead.
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