Air Force, Navy step up efforts to ferry oxygen, medical supplies

New Delhi, May 7 (IANS): The C-17 aircraft of Indian Air Force have conducted 400 sorties from within the country, including 351 to airlift 252 oxygen tankers of a total capacity of 4,904 Metric Tonnes (MT), till Friday.

Both the Air Force and the Indian Navy have intensified their efforts to aid the civil administration in tackling the grim Covid situation in the country by ferrying oxygen containers and medical equipment.

The cities the Air Force has covered include Jamnagar, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Panagarh, Indore, Ranchi, Agra, Jodhpur, Begumpet, Bhubaneswar, Pune, Surat, Raipur, Udaipur, Mumbai, Lucknow, Nagpur, Gwalior, Vijaywada, Baroda, Dimapur and Hindan.

The IAF aircraft also conducted 59 international sorties to airlift 72 cryogenic oxygen storage containers of 1,233 MT total capacity along with 1,252 empty oxygen cylinders.

The containers and cylinders were procured from Singapore, Dubai, Bangkok, the UK, Germany, Belgium and Australia. In addition, the C-17 and IL-76 aircraft have been tasked to airlift cryogenic oxygen containers, oxygen generators and ventilators from Israel and Singapore.

The Indian Navy deployed its ships — INS Talwar, INS Kolkata, INS Airavat, INS Kochi, INS Tabar, INS Trikand, INS Jalashwa and INS Shardul — to ferry oxygen containers, cylinders, concentrators and related equipment from friendly foreign countries.

Loading of oxygen containers and other medical supplies has also been planned on INS Tarkash, INS Shardul and INS Jalashwa from Doha, Kuwait and Muara, and Brunei, respectively, in the coming days.

Nine warships have been deployed for Operation Samudra Setu II to strengthen India’s fight against the second wave of the pandemic.

While one has already delivered oxygen at New Mangalore, five others are homeward bound and will reach between the country between May 9 and May 11.

“The overall oxygen and medical supplies delivered or embarked are 11×27 MT LMO filled cryogenic containers, 2,300 oxygen cylinders, 57 oxygen concentrators, 8×20 empty cryogenic oxygen cylinders, 3,150 empty oxygen cylinders, 10,000 Rapid Antigen Test kits and 450 PPE kits,” Indian Navy stated.

Railways delivered 2,960 MT LMO to different states

Ramping up the delivery of medical oxygen across the country, the Indian Railways said on Friday that it has delivered more than 2,960 MT Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) in 185 tankers through its Oxygen Express trains to different states.

A Railway Ministry spokesperson said that the national teansporter is continuing with its journey to provide relief to the people by delivering liquid medical oxygen to various states across the country.

“So far, the Railways has delivered more than 2,960 MT LMO in 185 tankers to various states across the country,” the spokesperson said.

He said that 47 Oxygen Express trains have already completed their journey.

Giving the break-up, the official said that 174 MT LMO has been offloaded in Maharashtra, 729 MT in Uttar Pradesh, 249 MT in Madhya Pradesh, 305 MT in Haryana, 123 MT in Telangana and 1,334 MT in Delhi.

He added that presently 18 tankers are on the run with more than 260 tonnes of LMO which are expected to reach Maharashtra, Haryana and Delhi.

More loaded Oxygen Express trains are expected to begin their journey later on Friday night, he added.