Indian Navy commander, captain win Asian of The Year award for Kerala flood rescue
Singapore, Nov 28: An Indian Navy commander and a captain were among those honoured at the 'Asian of The Year' awards here on Wednesday, acknowledging their selfless service and bravery in rescue operations during the devastating floods in Kerala.
Commander (Pilot) Vijay Varma and Captain (Pilot) P Rajkumar were honoured for their death-defying rescue flying during the floods earlier this year.
Commander Varma, 42, who was widely praised for leading the rescue in a district of the port city of Kochi, winched up a heavily pregnant woman who gave birth just after being airlifted to safety.
Captain Rajkumar, 54, winched 26 people up from a rooftop in Kochi while hovering between trees and other houses just two days after receiving a medal for saving a fisherman last year.
A video of his Sea King helicopter pulling up a wheelchair-bound pregnant woman was widely shared on social media.
Rajkumar ended up with 32 people on board.
Together with dozens of helicopters, Indian Navy pilots undertook high-risk missions to save people from rooftops and isolated land as the southern state battled the severe flood crisis in August.
"This year, the editors are pleased to honour the many men and women of courage and commitment who stepped up in the moment of greatest need," said a press release by The Straits Times daily which is associated with the awards.
Many ran towards the disaster-struck areas looking to help friends and neighbours moments after the tragedy. It is these people, together with organisations that would arrive later, that the daily would like to honour, it said.
Collectively, the award also goes to the late Ng Kok Choong, a Singaporean paraglider, for his rescue work in the aftermath of the recent earthquake in Central Sulawesi in Indonesia.
Also honoured were individuals who rushed to the scene of disaster, including at the Tham Luang cave rescue in Thailand and Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman, National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB), Indonesia.
Others awarded included the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Centre), and Singapore NGO Mercy Relief, who operated amid large scale flooding, earthquakes and a variety of other disasters.
"They have served as a beacon of selflessness and the finest instincts of mankind - to preserve and protect the flock at the cost of their own lives, if necessary," said the release.
Warren Fernandez, editor of The Straits Times, said, "The first responders were picked after the briefest of debates because theirs was a standout case of courage and selflessness. In an Asia witnessing disasters of increasing frequency and intensity, it is clear that there is nothing like 'over there' anymore - we all are equally affected".
"These men, and the two organisations we picked, have taught us through personal example that at the end of the day security is indivisible," he said.
Now in its seventh year, The Straits Times Asian of the Year award, announced towards the end of each year, has become an important part of the Asian calendar since 2012.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
