Fight against wildfire on in Nagaland-Manipur, NDRF man found dead

Kohima/Imphal, Jan 5 : The Indian Army, Indian Air Force (IAF), paramilitary forces, state authorities, along with hundreds of volunteers and locals, continued their battle against the wildfire in the famous Dzukou Valley on the Nagaland and Manipur borders for the eighth day as the blaze raged on, officials said.
However, officials said they were hopeful of controlling it soon even it had devastated a considerable part of the pristine area.
An Assistant Sub-Inspector of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), deployed to tackle the fire, was found dead in his tent on Tuesday in northern Manipur’s Senapati district bordering Nagaland.
Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, in a tweet, said : “Deeply saddened on hearing the news of the demise of Asst Sub-Inspector N.Binoy Meetei of @NDRFHQ, currently deployed at Dzuko for the ongoing firefighting operation. My heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of the deceased and pray for peace of the departed soul.” According to Kohima District Deputy Commissioner Mohammed Ali Shihab, eight helicopters equipped with Bambi buckets including four from the IAF and two from the Army continued their operation to control the wildfire.
“A total of 56 sorties with 75, 000 litres of water have been sprayed by the helicopters on the inferno during the past few days. As per the IAF assessment, the fire was well within control and they might be able to achieve 100 per cent by Wednesday. Within a day or two, the fire situation would be fully under control,” the Deputy Commissioner said after a review meeting.