Five teenagers rescued by IAF chopper from Andhra river

Five teenagers, who got stuck midstream in a river in Mehboobnagar in Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday, had a dramatic rescue after an Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopter was summoned for help.

Five teenagers, who got stuck midstream in a river in Mehboobnagar in Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday, had a dramatic rescue after an Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopter was summoned for help.

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Seven children in the age group 10-15 years were caught in a small rivulet midstream in Mehboobnagar while they were trying to cross it as the water level rose suddenly. While two of them swam to safety, the other five did not know how to swim and took refuge on a rock as the water level continued to rise.

After frantic efforts of the district administration failed to yield results, the Indian Air Force was contacted at around 3.15 pm. A helicopter from Hakimpet airbase immediately started for the site.

"It took us nearly an hour to reach the site around 150 km away from our base. We navigated through extremely bad weather to reach the spot," Group Captain Rajesh Isser, pilot of the helicopter, told IANS over telephone.

"We had to winch them one by one. We had to observe extreme caution as a slight mistake would have pushed the children into more danger," Isser said.

The rescue operation was completed in half an hour in the presence of thousands of onlookers.

After completing the rescue operation, the helicopter -- due to the darkness and bad weather -- made a precautionary landing at Shamsabad helipad before reaching their Hakimpet base.