Defence forces have stepped up rescue efforts

New Delhi: The situation in Bihar continues to be grim even on Wednesday. The human tragedy has left over three lakh people marooned.

The Army has said it expects to complete evacuation of all those marooned in the next three days.

The Army has said it has been evacuating around 25,000 persons every day.

37 columns of the Army are involved in rescue operations in 6 flood-hit districts.

Although the initial deployment was slow, 6 helicopters, 514 boats and 37 medical teams of the army are currently conducting relief work in the state.

The Indian air force has also been pressed into action for airlifting 362 tons of relief materials and evacuated 350 persons.

The army has sent more than 5,000 soldiers to join rescue efforts and thousands have been rescued.

Officials did not yet have an exact figure of those killed by the flooding, but estimates project that the number could be anywhere between a few dozens to thousands.

The relief effort was the first to deploy all three branches of India's defence forces — the army, navy and air force.

With the extra forces, officials hoped to complete the rescue phase of operations in two days.

The army is trying its best to save as many lives as possible. some 3,000 soldiers are there trying to rescue marooned people. Here's Lt General H S Panag on relief operations.

Lieutenant General, Army Commandent, Lucknow, H.S. Panag said, "Within 10 days army rescued the flood affected people. The next 48 hours are most crucial. We have deployed 43 columns of jawans in the Kosi flood affected zone."

One Column of jawans are about 100 to 125 Army jawans.

The flooding is expected to continue until November. Only in November are the monsoon rains expected to taper off.

The breach in the Kosi barrage cannot be mended until then, say experts. resently, it is more than a mile wide and growing.

(With inputs from AP)

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