BHUTAN TODAY The New Perspective
With the assistance of Royal Bhutan Army, four Helicopters of Indian Army arrived this morning from Siliguri, to conduct a casualty evacuation mission (CASEVAC) from Wachey, Lunana. The helicopters arrived in Paro at 7:37 AM and after a brief meeting with our officials, the evacuation mission was finalized and commenced from Paro at 9:16 AM.
The helicopters conducting the rescue mission landed at Wachey at 10:20 AM with two members of the Bhutan Emergency Aeromedical Retrieval (BEAR) team. The passengers and the pilot were safely evacuated to Thimphu at 10:48 AM and admitted to Jigme Dorji Wangchuk National Referral Hospital (JDWNRH) for further medical care. Today’s evacuation mission was successful due to favorable weather conditions compared to yesterday.
Their officials are currently in Thimphu providing assistance to the passengers who were admitted to JDWNRH. They have also offered a token amount for meeting immediate requirements to the family of the deceased in Wachey. They are working in coordination with the Wachey Tshogpa and Gasa Dzongkhag officials to offer our full support for the funeral rites, which will be held in Wachey in the coming days.
The second helicopter, A5-BHS has been grounded for its 600 hours scheduled maintenance since February 27, 2023 and is under AOG (Aircraft on Ground) till the scheduled maintenance is completed. Therefore, it was unavailable for the CASEVAC mission yesterday.
After completing the casualty evacuation mission from Wachey today, the Indian Air
Force helicopters departed at 12:16 PM and returned to their main base.
They express their sincere gratitude to His Majesty’s Secretariat and the Royal Bhutan Army for arranging the CASEVAC mission. Additionally,they thank Indian Army for providing helicopters and IMTRAT in Bhutan for their efficient coordination.
