IAF airlifts 3 cryogenic oxygen tankers from Bangkok to Hyderabad

Secunderabad: The Indian Air Force on 22 May airlifted three cryogenic oxygen tankers from Bangkok to the Air Force station in Begumpet, Hyderabad. The IAF's heavy lift transport aircraft of the IAF IL-76 (Gajraj) landed at Begumpet on Saturday afternoon. This will be followed by a few more ferries in the coming week.

The aircraft started from Chandigarh on Saturday morning and reached Bangkok around 9 a.m. Cryogenic containers are used to transport liquid medical oxygen. India is trying to procure as many cryo-containers as possible from across the globe to reduce the bottlenecks in the transportation of oxygen to states.

The Air Force station in Begumpet is one of the nodal centre of IAF operations towards the national fight against COVID-19. For the past one month, round-the-clock operations to airlift hundreds of oxygen tankers, oxygen concentrators and cylinders, and tonnes of foreign aid has been supported by AFS Begumpet, Airport Authorities of India (AAI), and the Indian Oil Corporation.