Srinagar:
Indian Air Force (IAF) on Wednesday airlifted about 200 passengers from Leh in frontier region of Ladakh to Srinagar, an official spokesman said.
"As many as 183 passengers were airlifted from Leh to Srinagar in IL-76 Air Force plane," the spokesman said.
The closure of 434-kilometre Srinagar-Leh National highway, the only road linking frontier region of Ladakh with Jammu and Kashmir, for winter had prompted the government to seek the services of the IAF to airlift stranded passengers.
The spokesman said the aircraft developed some technical fault due to which the flight got delayed from Chandigarh.
"As a result of the delay, the Srinagar-Leh flight got cancelled," the spokesman said adding IAF has assured that the passengers of cancelled flight would be airlifted in IL-76 aircraft on December 20 between Leh and Srinagar.
AN-32 Kargil Courier will also operate sorties between Kargil and Jammu on the same day, subject to fair weather, the spokesman said.