26/11: Aircraft assigned to take NSG had no pilot or crew

Mumbai: The National Security Guards (NSG) took 60 hours to eliminate the terrorists who attacked Mumbai on November 26 last year, but the elite commandos could have finished the job quicker if time had not been lost.
J K Dutt, who was NSG chief in November last year, told this to CNN-IBN in an interview before the first anniversary of the Mumbai attacks.
And time was lost. Dutt explained the NSG was called in almost three hours after the terrorist attacks. “The point is that the attack took place at around 9.30 pm. Law and order being a state subject it was for the state authorities to decide when they wanted Central (government) forces. When the word finally came in it was 12.50 am in the night, and that was November 27th.”
Dutt said an aircraft at the Delhi airport was assigned to take NSG commandos to Mumbai but there was no pilot or crew. The pilot and crew had to be called up from their residences, but then loading NSG’s equipment manually delayed the flight to Mumbai.
"By the time we took off it was three in the morning and by the time we reached here (Mumbai) it was 5'O clock," said Dutt. Equipment then had to be unloaded manually and put on waiting trucks and buses.
22/11/09 Toral Varia/CNN-IBN

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Categories: Safety Nov 2009