On the morning of June 30, with the sky overcast, a group of 10 civilian labourers loading sand from a dried riverbed in Jammu was caught unaware when a flash-flood in the Tawi River hit them. The fury of the river and the sudden surge in the waterflow at night night lead to a tragedy as they were marooned atop a tipper truck which got bogged down and could not be driven away. No rescue was possible till the time the Air Force was called upon to save the situation.

An urgent request was received from the SP at 1045 hrs and a Mi-17 IV was launched at 1135 hrs to carry out a recce over the site. It was opined that there was no other way but to winch the labourers from their marooned position. The helicopter then returned to the base to reconfigure for winching operations and by 1238 hrs the rescue operations were launched. The helicopter positioned itself atop the tipper and lowered the Flight Gunner to help in rescuing the marooned labourers.

The entire operation was undertaken by Wg Cdr AK Tiwari, Commanding Officer, 130 HU and his men at Air Force Station, Jammu in a totally professional manner. The response was swift and team effort displayed by both maintenance and operational staff during the entire operation, launched on barely one hour notice, was commendable. One additional helicopter was also reconfigured at the base to be available as a standby. The entire operation was executed with the aim of saving human lives.