Kerala rains: IAF pilots brave perils to rescue hundreds
(WorldNews India)

The whirr of the twin turbine engines of the Russian-made Mi-7 helicopter of the Indian Air Force (IAF) is perhaps the best sound that persons stranded on roof-tops in flood-hit districts of Kerala can hope for. Since Wednesday, the IAF has flown scores of sorties, hoisting more than 314 forlorn civilians from inundated neighbourhoods to relatively high-ground. INS Garuda, the naval air station in Kochi, is the staging point for the ongoing air rescue effort code-named `Operation Karuna`. The IAF station at Shangumugham here is the transit airbase for the forward supply of relief material, rescue equipment and defence personnel to Kochi. A...