LAHORE, Oct 12: The first batch of 24 grievously-injured quake victims, along with their 10 attendants, were air-lifted by the PAF’s CASA plane from Chaklala Airbase to Lahore Old Airport on Wednesday evening.

Soon after the plane landed, the army medical corps officers shifted the patients to army ambulances on stretchers that took them to the Combined Military Hospital. A woman and most of children patients were crying with pain.

The patients were originally air-lifted by helicopters from Muzaffarabad, Dir, Neelam, Patika and Chikar areas to Chaklala Airbase on Wednesday morning. In the evening, the PAF’s CASA plane transported the patients and their attendants to Lahore.

As many as 10 women, six men and eight children were seriously wounded and their attendants had also suffered minor injuries.

As the AMC officials shifted serious head-injury patient Intaza, 10, to ambulance, she was wailing with pain uttering a big stone had hit her head that left her unconscious. Four-year-old Asma had multiple fractures.

Asma’s aunt Farida said the earthquake victims had suffered a lot in Muzaffarabad area, as the rescue work could not start there for the first three days. Besides those died immediately after the accident, many injured breathed their last during the first three days owing to unavailability of food, water and medical assistance, she said.

She said Asma’s mother, her own mother and seven other members of the family had met with death.

Another patient, Abdul Majeed, 45, said he was injured when a big stone hit him while he was walking through a bazaar in Muzaffarabad.

Kalsoom Kiyani, who was accompanying her injured husband Waseemuddin Kiyani, said no rescue team could reach their village Chanari in Hattian tehsil even three days after the earthquake. Stating that her three nephews and sister-in-law had died in the quake, she cried out that they had braved extreme cold weather and rain in the open for three days.

Accompanying two injured children — Munsaf, 8, and Sabtain, 6 — Rukhtaj Ahmad Awan said no rescue team or relief goods reached them for the first three days. She said still there was a need of tents to save people from extreme cold weather in Muzaffarabad.

She said her husband, Abdul Qayyum Awan, was left in Muzffarabad to bury his children who had died due to cold weather and unavailability of medical assistance.

Some attendants said around 20 patients were still waiting at the Chaklala Airbase for transportation to hospitals.

Evacuation operation in-charge in Lahore, Lt-Col Ghulam Sabir, said the army’s general plan was to receive patients, provide first-aid and then categorize them in three groups according to the nature of their injuries.

Answering a question, he said more patients would soon be transported to Lahore by air as the capacity of hospitals in Rawalpindi and adjoining areas had been utilized.

In Lahore, he said, the CMH had reserved 300 beds for the victims. All patients coming to Lahore would directly be taken to the CMH till its maximum capacity would be utilized.

Afterwards, Col Sabir said, the civil hospitals would be asked to come into action and accommodate patients. He said over 1,200 beds had been reserved in civil hospitals in the city. In Gulab Devi hospital alone, he said, the army would take over the control of 1,000 beds to accommodate and treat patients.

“When more patients will arrive, the army will ask the civil hospital managements to send their ambulances and take patients to their respective hospitals. The patients will be categorized with regard to the specialities being offered by respective hospitals,” he said.

Col Sabir said the army would monitor the treatment of patients in civil hospitals as well. When the patients would be discharged from hospitals, he said the army would rehabilitate them as it would be having basic data about all patients.

Squadron Leader Javed Iqbal said the patients had head and chest injuries, besides fractures. He said the neuro-surgery patients would also be looked after at the CMH.

Meanwhile, Punjab Governor Khalid Maqbool arrived at the Lahore airport after visiting Sialkot and Multan.

Speaking to reporters, the governor gave out that a large number of patients from Muzaffarabad had already been brought to hospitals in Rawalpindi, Gujranwala and Kharian.

With regard to the provision of relief goods, he said some 200 truckloads had been reached Muzaffarabad and some 100 trucks Bagh in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. He said people were also sending medicines, blankets and other relief goods from abroad. “Now a flood of relief goods will reach to worst earthquake-hit areas in the country,” he said.

Answering a question, Mr Maqbool said the government had got a large number of helicopters from different countries and deployed them in rescue operations. He said the bigger helicopters were being sent to Muzaffarabad and Bagh, while the smaller ones were being sent to far-off areas. “Now people are not complaining about shortage of eatables, but tents, blankets and medicines,” he added.

Meanwhile, it is reliably learnt, that the cargo planes carrying relief goods sent by international donor agencies would land at the Lahore’s old airport as no space was available to accommodate goods at Chaklala Airbase. The airport’s Haj terminal would be used to transport the relief goods.