Search And Rescue Operations: Police dog joins search and rescue ops in Wayanad | Bhubaneswar News
Berhampur: A dog from the K9 squad of Odisha police, currently posted in Berhampur, is all set to join in the search and rescue operations in Wayanad, Kerala, which was hit by massive landslides.
Storm, a trained German Shepherd along with five police personnel, including its master, left for Kerala on Sunday to assist in rescue and search operations in Wayanad where efforts are still on to recover bodies trapped in the debris.
More than 300 people have died and over 150 are still said to be missing in the twin landslides that struck the tourist town of Wayanad on July 30. Several people are still feared trapped in the debris and efforts are on to rescue them.
“They will reach Kerala on Monday. As per the requirement of Kerala police, the trained dog will join in the search and rescue operations,” sources in Odisha police said.
“Storm is perhaps the only dog in the K9 squad skilled in search and rescue operations,” said Sarthak Sarangi, SP (Berhampur). They will stay in Kerala till the search and rescue operations are over, he said. The seven-year-old sniffer dog had received training in Cuttack and the Border Security Force’s training centre in Gwalior.
“This will be the first time that Storm would be engaged in search and rescue during the massive natural calamity in Wayanad,” said Prahallad Nayak, the master of Storm.
“It is a very challenging job for Storm and we hope the dog will succeed in sniffing out the bodies from the debris in the landslide-hit areas,” said Nayak.
Engagement of a sniffer dog for search and rescue operations is not new. A retired police officer said trained labradors from Army dog unit in Lucknow were engaged in search and rescue in Himachal Pradesh recently.
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