Indian Navy undertakes daring 900 km night flight amid monsoon to save critically ill two-year-old

A daring, rapid medical evacuation operation by air, undertaken by the Indian Navy,saved the life of a critically ill child and provided succour to the concerned family. The night-time operation was performed following the request of the Civil Administration of Lakshadweep, India’s archipelago off the country’s western coast.

A two-and-a-half-year-old child was battling Febrile Seizure Aspiration Pneumonia and Respiratory Failure and required immediate medical assistance. Owing to the lack of adequate medical facilities at Agatti island to revive the child from this condition, a medical evacuation was carried out.

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Despite the harsh monsoon weather prevailing over India's western coast, an Indian Navy Dornier-228 aircraft from the Naval Air Station INS Garuda in Kochi, Kerala mobilised rapidly to Agatti and embarked the child and the parents and flew back to Kochi, where the baby was admitted to a hospital and is recovering.

Located 460 kilometres west of Kerala’s Kochi city, the Agatti atoll houses the lone airstrip available in the union territory of Lakshadweep. Operated by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), the airstrip at Agatti was inaugurated in April 1988 for the operation of Dornier-228, and later the operations were extended to the ATR-72 aircraft in September 2010.

However, owing to the short runway length and limited airfield services available, both civil and military aircraft operatedonly during daylight hours.

It was in October 2022 that the Indian Navy’s Dornier-228 made a maiden night landing at Agatti, thereby enhancing the Indian Navy’s round-the-clock maritime surveillance capabilities and the ability to support the Lakshadweep archipelago at short notice.

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