Incessant rains over the last one week has led to a flood like situation in various districts of Madhya Pradesh with most rivers being in spate. On 27 July, the flood relief column of Army formation located at Sagar rescued two marooned fishermen stranded in the torrid Dhasan River in Chhatarpur district in a daredevil act.

     Acting swiftly on a request received from the District Collector, Chhatarpur on the evening of 26 July, the army column from Sagar reached the location at night. However, due to the prevailing darkness & the ferocity of the water flow, the rescue operation could only be launched in the early hours of 27th July. In the meanwhile, the column arranged for food, dry clothes and a mobile phone to be delivered to the marooned fishermen. Due to proximity of a cable car way, a helicopter rescue was ruled out and the column relied upon an improvised captive ferry using an old tyre and ropes. Sepoy Vineet Kumar Singh, a member of the rescue column crawled almost inches above the ferocious water current and reached the marooned fishermen. He persuaded the scared fishermen and improvised a harness, thereby restoring their faith and guiding them to safety, one at a time, while himself staying at the danger end in the fast increasing torrent.

     After being stranded in the savage river for over twenty hours, the fishermen were finally rescued to safety due to the determined and bold effort of the army rescue column. The District Collector, Mrs Bhavna Walimbe and DIG Police, Mr RS Meena were present on the site throughout the rescue operation and lauded the effort of the army column.