In a daring operation, Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots landed their aircraft on a small airstrip at Wadi Sayyidna, about 40 km North of Khartoum in Sudan to rescue 121 people.  The passengers included medical cases, including a pregnant lady, and those who had no means to reach Port Sudan. The feat was incredible as pilots flew into darkness, literally, with no landing lights on the airstrip using their night vision goggles.

Led by the Indian Defence Attaché, the convoy reached the airstrip. However, the airstrip had a degraded surface, with no navigational approach aids, fuel, or landing lights (which are required to guide an aircraft landing at night).

Approaching the airstrip, the aircrew used their Electro-Optical/Infra-Red sensors to ensure that the runway was free from any obstructions and that no inimical forces were in the vicinity. Having made sure of the same, the aircrew carried out a tactical approach on night vision goggles, on a practically dark night.

“Upon landing, the aircraft engines were kept running while eight IAF Garud Commandos secured the passengers and their luggage into the aircraft. As with the landing, the take-off from the unlit runway was also carried out using NVGs. This approximately two-and-a-half-hour operation between Wadi Sayyidna and Jeddah will go down in the annals of IAF history for its sheer audacity and flawless execution - akin to that carried out in Kabul,” the IAF said in a statement.

So far, a total of 1,360 stranded Indians have been brought back to India from violence-hit Sudan under 'Operation Kaveri'.

Image source: ANI