The Army rescued around 26 people who were trapped in the flood water of river Sharda in Pilibhit district on Wednesday.

Officials said that so far 26 villagers had been airlifted and evacuated safely. The superintendent of police was camping at the Ramanagara post to supervise the operation.

About 500 villagers are trapped in the flood waters of river Sharda. On Tuesday, the PACs flood unit personnel made efforts to rescue these villagers by boats but the operation was postponed due to the strong current of Sharda.

In the night, the farmers blocked the highway in Puranpur, demanding that the people of Ramanagara area trapped in the floods across Sharda, be airlifted to a safe place.

On this demand, some farmers gathered at Madhotanda police station and staged demonstrations.

Later, the officials who reached the spot assured to get the villagers airlifted. In the night itself, District Magistrate Pulkit Khare contacted the high officials and got an army helicopter from Bareilly along with soldiers. On Wednesday morning, the army personnel started the rescue operation by helicopter. In the first sortie, about a dozen villagers were brought safely by helicopter. Most of them were women and children. After this some other people were brought safely. Those rescued were taken to Nagariya Khurd Kala gram panchayat camp and arrangements were made for their food there.

All the stranded people are hungry and thirsty. Army personnel say that about 500 villagers are trapped in the villages near river Sharda and it will take some time to bring everyone safely.