Tripura flood situation grim, CM seeks Army assistance
Agartala, June 14 : Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Thursday sought the Army's assistance in rescue operations in the flood-hit state as incessant rains continued for the third day leading to floods and landslides - forcing some 50,000 people to take shelter in relief camps and claiming four lives.
Deb informed Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in a telephonic conversation on Thursday morning of the situation and apprised him of the steps taken by the state government.
"Apprised Rajnath Singhji about the flood situation and the ongoing relief work in Tripura. Requested for assistance from the Army for rescue operations in a few critical locations. The Home Ministry has assured all the necessary support from the Central government," Deb tweeted.
The Chief Minister also requested the Home Minister to "urgently" increase the number of National Disaster Response Force personnel in Tripura.
An official statement said the Centre has assured all the necessary support to Tripura to deal with the flood situation. It has asked the Army Chief, General Bipin Rawat, to take necessary action.
Meanwhile, an official of the Tripura Disaster Management Control Centre said that around 50,000 people of over 10,000 families took shelter in around 200 relief camps in different parts of the state mostly in northern Tripura.
"At least four people, including two aged men and a teenager, died across Tripura since Tuesday due to landslides, falling trees or fishing in flooded rivers," the official said.
"We have kept ready a Pawan Hans helicopter and sent requisition to the Indian Air Force (IAF) to provide two more copters to rescue marooned people and to provide relief to the affected families if necessary."
He said that Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters on Wednesday and Thursday could not fly from Silchar in southern Assam due to bad weather.
The Disaster Management official said that the situation in northern Tripura's Unokoti district deteriorated after three old embankments of the Manu River was breached.
Waters of many rivers of Tripura are flowing over the danger levels. Flood waters inundated many villages, homes, paddy fields highways besides low-lying areas.
Landslides have occurred in many highways affecting movement of traffic.
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Jhansi fire: Nurse's heroic efforts helped save over dozen babies
Lucknow/Jhansi (UP), Nov 17: Nurse Megha James was on duty when the fire broke out at the Jhansi hospital and she threw herself headlong into the rescue efforts, playing a hero's role by saving several babies.
Even when her salwar got burned, she refused to give up and was able to evacuate 14-15 babies with others' help.
"I had gone to take a syringe to give an injection to a child. When I came back, I saw that the (oxygen) concentrator had caught fire. I called the ward boy, who came with the fire extinguisher and tried to put it out. But by then, the fire had spread," James said.
Ten babies perished in a fire that broke out at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College in Jhansi Friday night.
Faced with an enormous blaze, James's mind worked with a frenetic speed, to the extent she cared little about burning herself.
"My chappal caught fire and I burned my foot. Then my salwar caught fire. I removed my salwar and discarded it. At that time, my mind was virtually not working," she told PTI Videos.
James just wore another salwar and went back to the rescue operation.
"There was a lot of smoke, and once the lights went out, we could not see anything. The entire staff brought out at least 14-15 children. There were 11 beds in the ward with 23-24 babies," she said.
Had the lights not gone out they could have saved more children, James said. "It all happened very suddenly. None of us had expected it."
Assistant Nursing Superintendent Nalini Sood praised James's valour and recounted bits from how the rescue operation was carried out.
"The hospital staff broke the glasses of the NICU ward to evacuate the babies. It was then Nurse Megha's salwar caught fire. Instead of caring for her safety, she stayed there to rescue the babies and handed them over to people outside," she said.
Sood said James is currently undergoing treatment at the same medical college. She said she did not know the extent of her burns.
"The rescued babies were shifted to a ward very close to the NICU ward… When I recall the scene, I feel like crying," she said.
Dr Anshul Jain, the head of the anaesthesiology department at the medical college, explained the standard rescue operation and claimed the hospital followed the protocol to the T.
"In the triage process during an ICU evacuation, the policy is to evacuate less-affected patients first. The rationale behind this approach is that patients requiring minimal support can be relocated quickly, enabling a larger number of evacuations to be completed in a shorter time.
"In contrast, patients on ventilators or requiring high oxygen support demand more time and resources for evacuation," he said.
"This principle was successfully implemented in Jhansi, playing a significant role in saving many lives," Jain said.
A newborn rescued from the fire died due to illness on Sunday, Jhansi District Magistrate Avinash Kumar said.
