Uttarakhand flood evacuation process will be over in 3 to 4 days: IAF chief

Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal N.A.K. Browne on Wednesday said the evacuation of flood victims from Uttarakhand would be completed within the next three to four days.

Air Chief Marshal Browne, who was speaking to media after visiting the site of yesterday's IAF chopper crash, said: " I think 3 to 4 days more till the weather clears out and the operation is complete."

"The operation is going to continue. Most of the work is already been done. Weather will probably start improving by this Friday. In the mountainous region, the weather is always a factor And, on top of that, we are in the middle of the monsoon," he added.

Air Chief Marshal Browne also said the morale of the force and other security units remains high in spite of the tragedy, and added that the air force and the army has adequate resources on ground to resolve the crisis.

"Morale is still very high...Our rotors will not stop churning", he said.

"What exactly happened we will know only once we recover MI17 voice data recorder. We have sent commandos to the crash site. We have recovered recording devices and only analysis will reveal the cause of the crash," Air Chief Marshal Browne said.

"We are not ruling out anything, it (crash) could be technical related or weather related," he added.

According to reports, at least 20 people were killed as the IAF Mi-17 crashed north of Gaurikund while returning from a rescue mission from Guptkashi and Kedarnath.

Meanwhile, rescue operations continued to be affected by adverse weather conditions as heavy rain showed no signs of respite.

Air operations were stalled in most places while ground operations were still continuing, reports said.