The Indian Air Force (IAF) on Monday airlifted 123 people stranded at various places in J&K and Ladakh owing to the closure of the 434-km Srinagar-Leh National Highway owing to heavy snowfall, an official said. An AN-32 IAF aircraft, also known as Kargil Courier, transported 44 stranded people from Jammu to Kargil and 15 from Kargil to Jammu, chief coordinator Aamir Ali of the IAF’s Courier Service said. Similarly, 38 passengers stranded in Srinagar were flown to Kargil and 26 from Kargil to Srinagar, he said.

The IAF operates C-17, C-130 and AN-32 aircraft regularly to airlift stranded passengers between J&K and Ladakh during the closure of the Srinagar-Leh National Highway owing to snowfall.

Meanwhile, a massive landslide at Dewal near Samroli in Udhampur district blocked the 270-km Jammu-Srinagar highway, the only major link to the Valley, early on Monday. It left hundreds of vehicles stranded on the highway.

SSP, Traffic (highway), Shabir Ahmad Malik said agencies had pressed men and machinery and efforts were on to make the highway traffic worthy. “No fresh traffic was allowed either from Jammu or Srinagar this morning in view of the closure of the highway,” he said, adding over 300 Jammu-bound trucks and some passenger vehicles were left stranded. The traffic was also halted on the Jammu-Kishtwar-Doda road. (With PTI inputs)

Courtesy: The Tribune India: 28th February , 2022