In a "daring" heli-borne operation, Air Force pilots on Wednesday saved five school-going children from drowning in a rivulet in Mehboobnagar district in Andhra Pradesh.

"Daring operation by our pilots Group Captain Rajesh Issar and Squadron Leader Ramesh flying a Chetak helicopter helped in saving five school-children from drowning in a rivulet in Ashampet village in Mehboobnagar," IAF officials said here.

Around 1400 hours, a group of seven children aged between
10-15 years, they said, was trying to cross the rivulet when all of a sudden the water-level started rising.

Out of the seven, five children climbed a rock in the middle of the rivulet and two others managed to swim across to safety.

"The civil administration along with the local population tried to bring out the children from the rivulet but after all attempts failed and they asked for our help at around 1515 hours," officials said.

"Around 1640 hours, our chopper from Helicopter Training School in Hakimpet, 140 km away from the scene of the incident, reached the spot and using a winch, one by one lifted the children out of the rivulet to safety," they added.

The whole exercise, the officials said, was made more difficult by the presence of over a thousand onlookers, who wanted to see the rescue operations but the pilots used their skills to carry out their task.