A 9-hour operation to rescue three men

It took three boats, 24 Armymen and nine hours to rescue three people marooned in this nondescript village, 40 km from Sonbarsa Raj point.

It took three boats, 24 Armymen and nine hours to rescue three people marooned in this nondescript village, 40 km from Sonbarsa Raj point.

With Bihar Government boats not equipped to take to the deep waters of the swelling Sursar river, three motorboats of 6 Engineer Regiment, 18 Engineer Regiment and 4 Assam Battalion left on a mission to rescue the three men stranded on a piece of land for the past 18 days.

The operation started at 9.30 am on Friday. Armed with a global positioning system, Lieutenant Rishikesh egged on the other two boats to follow. Sonbarsa Welfare Officer Sunil Kumar tagged along as the guide. But the route maps showed only revenue villages along the Sursar river, smaller hamlets were not tagged. When it appeared that Welfare Officer would not be able to guide the team, the Army officer decided to seek help from locals.

The crew soon reached Mohanpur, where 20 villagers had gathered hoping to be ferried to the other side for provisions. None of them wanted to leave their homes. They only wanted a medical camp at the village to check if any of them had diarrhoea; most of them had drank the flood water on the first few days.

Here, the Army team took along Sakal Paswan, a local villager, to help spot the other villages. Other villages along the route wanted relief, but not at the cost of abandoning their homes.

Further ahead, the river was blocked by a siphon. Villagers helped the jawans carry the boats to the other side. But there was still no sight of Basnahi. Half-an-hour later, just when it looked as if the mission would have to be aborted, some locals told the crew how to reach Basnahi.

Within minutes the Army team is near the small chunk of land where Bipin Kumar Mishra, Jitendra Kumar Mishra and their nephew Niraj Thakur are stuck. Their only communication with a rest of the world 8212; a mobile phone, which they used to call up the Saharsa District Magistrate for help. Bipin and Jitendra, who stay in Lucknow, had come to their native village for their father8217;s death anniversary. They had planned to leave the village by August 21, but by then the village had turned into an island.

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The boats left with the three around 4 pm. But Lt Rishikesh was not that happy to rescue just three persons. At Badgaon he took in a woman and her son. 8220;With evacuation, the main focus should be to carry relief material. Otherwise, it is a waste of resources and effort,8221; said the officer.