The Indian Air Force (IAF) on Monday carried out a dramatic rescue of a man who was stuck on a tree for 12 hours amid raging water released from a dam in Chhattigarh. A video of the rescue operation, which went viral on Monday, shows the 43-year-old man being airlifted by an IAF helicopter.

According to the police, the man identified as Jitendra Kashyap had apparently jumped into the weir (built to remove excess water) of Khutaghat dam in Bilaspur district on Sunday evening. However, he was swept away by the force of the water, Bilaspur Superintendent of Police Prashant Agrawal told PTI.

Kashyap somehow managed to get hold of some small rocks and a tree. A joint rescue operation launched by the State Disaster Response Force, South Eastern Coalfields Limited and the National Thermal Power Corporation failed to yield any result.

The man waited for 12 hours sticking to the tree before an IAF helicopter was roped in for the mission.

The MI-17 helicopter took off from Raipur at 5.49 am and airlifted the man at 6.37 am. It took around 20 minutes for the rescue operation before landing back in the state capital at 7.35 am, the Bilaspur SP said.