In a rescue operation that lasted 15 hours, a 25-member team of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel carried an injured woman on a stretcher for over 40 Km from a remote border location of Uttarakhand, an officer of the ITBP said on Sunday, August 23.

On Friday, the troop traversed swollen rivulets, rocky tracks and landslide-prone heights to carry the injured woman from a mountainous location near the Line of Actual Control (LAC) on the border in Pithoragarh district and admitted her to a hospital in Munsiyari.

The control room on Friday morning received information that 26-year-old Rekha Devi, a resident of Lapsa village near the China border needed urgent medical assistance after she fell from a hillside. On August 20, the woman had fallen from a hillside and suffered injuries on her legs. However, as a helicopter could not land in the area, the woman could not be rescued for two days, an ITBP spokesperson told PTI.

The ITBP was then informed as the woman’s condition worsened. Troops from the 14th battalion of the force deployed at the Milam border post along the Sino-India LAC then reached the village where the woman was staying, around 22 Km away. The troop covered portions of the journey on foot.

As Devi’s condition was worsening, the personnel then put her on a stretcher and proceeded to take her to the hospital.

‘Twenty-five ITBP men took turns to carry the woman on a stretcher for 15 hours through flooded nullahs, landslide-prone areas and slippery slopes for about 40 km, up to the nearest roadhead,’ the official said.

‘The woman was further evacuated to a hospital. She is stable now,’ the official added.

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