23 migrant labourers from Odisha, who had been stranded at the Edupalya temple in Edupayala village in Medak district due to the flooding of the Manjira river, were rescued by two Chetak helicopters of the Indian Air Force on Sunday. In an operation lasting more than an hour, the Indian Air Force successfully airlifted all the labourers and moved them to safer locations.

The operation was undertaken from the Air Force Station Hakimpet in Hyderabad and was coordinated by Wing commander P Surendran, Chief Operations Officer at the Begumpet Air Force Station. The IAF is remaining on standby to undertake more rescue operations as more rain has been forecast for the region in the next couple of days.

 The migrant labourers had been stranded since Friday night. Although two rescue attempts were made on Saturday, they had to be aborted due to heavy rains and low clouds.

The local police initially launched rescue efforts, but with water level rising, the administration sought help from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the IAF. 

Medak district was lashed by heavy rainfall from Tuesday night to Wednesday morning, with various parts receiving between 10 and 12cm of rain. Following this, 1.40 lakh cusecs of water were released to the Nizamsagar project, and this excess water stranded the workers at the Edupalya temple.