ITBP Personnel Rescue Army Agniveer Lalit Kumar from Alaknanda River in Chamoli, Administer CPR
Three Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel rescued an Indian Army Agniveer after he was swept into the Alaknanda River near Mana in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district on Monday, November 9. The soldier, Lalit Kumar of the Army’s Corps of Signals, was pulled from the river and given cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) before being taken for medical treatment.
Kumar was laying a signal line near a forward military post when he reportedly lost his balance and fell into the river at about 12:55 pm. The current carried him downstream, and workers at the site raised the alarm and called for help.
ITBP personnel Saurabh, Bolbam Sahu and Om Prakash were travelling towards the forward post when they heard the calls. They rushed to the river and managed to pull Kumar out. Recognising the seriousness of his condition, they immediately administered CPR. Their intervention helped restore his breathing before medical personnel arrived.
ITBP Deputy Commander Shiv Prasad Sati said Dr Gaurav Singh, the commanding officer at the force’s Mana headquarters, later reached the location with a medical response team and an ambulance.
Kumar was first taken to the Primary Health Centre in Badrinath for emergency treatment. With little improvement in his condition by about 2 pm, authorities arranged an evacuation to a better-equipped military medical facility.
An Indian Army helicopter flew him to Joshimath, where he was taken to the Army field hospital at approximately 3:30 pm. Medical personnel were monitoring his condition at the time of the initial report.
The rescue took place in the Mana sector, near the India-China border, where rugged mountains, difficult terrain and fast-flowing Himalayan rivers shape the conditions in which Army and ITBP personnel carry out their operational and border-security responsibilities.
The immediate rescue and CPR by the three ITBP personnel formed the first part of the response, followed by the arrival of the medical team and the Army’s helicopter evacuation. The incident involved personnel from the Army and ITBP, forces that operate in the same demanding frontier region.
