Cyclone Ditwah impact: IAF airlifts 65-tonne Bailey Bridge to Colombo amid India’s efforts to aid Sri Lanka

As India continued to extend its humanitarian assistance to cyclone-battered Sri Lanka under “Operation Sagar Bandhu”, a C-17 transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) on Wednesday (December 3, 2025) airlifted a 65-tonne Bailey Bridge from Hindan to Colombo.

A Bailey bridge is a portable, prefabricated modular structure, commonly used in flood-hit areas to reconnect two separated regions.

The visuals shared by the Ministry of Defence shows the IAF personnel involved in the coordinated rescue, medical, and relief operations in the aftermath of cyclone Ditwah which has claimed the lives of at least 479 people as of Wednesday (December 3) evening.

Meanwhile, IAF’s Mi-17 V5 helicopters carried out sustained missions, delivering nine tonnes of relief material and rescuing three survivors from affected areas, the defence ministry said.

India has continued its humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka under Operation Sagar Bandhu, with extensive air, sea and ground operations delivering urgent relief to those affected by Cyclone Ditwah, the Indian High Commission said on Wednesday (December 3, 2025). The neighbouring country has been grappling with widespread flooding, landslides and severe infrastructure collapse, leaving several districts isolated and severely straining the country’s disaster-response capacity.

On November 28, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the launch of “Operation Sagar Bandhu” to assist Sri Lanka in its hour of crisis, boosting Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) efforts.

Sri Lankah on Wednesday (December 3) declared 22 of the island’s 25 administrative districts as ‘disaster zones’ in the aftermath of massive devastation due to the cyclone, which made landfall on November 25.

Over 1.4 million people have been affected, with more than 2,33,000 sheltering in 1,441 relief centres, the Sri Lankan government data said.

With PTI inputs