Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam

Men in white display their might

Photo: K.R. Deepak

Copters ahoy!: Dhruv helicopters of ‘Sarang’ in action at Ramakrishna Beach during the Navy Day celebrations in Visakhapatnam on Thursday. —

VISAKHAPATNAM: The booming guns and whooshing missiles mingled with the roar of waves and turned R.K. Beach into a ‘war-like zone’.

It was a spectacular moment for scores of spectators who thronged the beach road to witness the Navy Day celebrations on Thursday.

The entire stretch of road was jam-packed, with crowd spilling over to the beach road from the Kali temple junction to the YMCA. People occupied rooftops, particularly the apartment complexes all along the road, to have a look at the operational display of the ‘men in white’.

The skydivers gave an immaculate performance as they descended from the vast azure skies on the golden sands of the beach. The Marine Commandos (Marcos) thrilled the crowd with their speed, precision, aggression and accuracy and the operational display by the Marcos was a reminder of their valour in battling the terrorists during the recent Mumbai terror attack.

An ‘enemy oil installation’ was blasted in a lightning attack raising a huge ball of fire and sending a thick column of smoke billowing into the air. Soon groups of commandos landed on the beach in their speedboats and after using a rocket launch and exchanging fire with an ‘enemy position’, gained possession of the beach.

Finally, all eyes turned to the sky as the awesome team of the Indian Air Force – Sarang – arrived from nowhere and set the skies afire with their astounding aerial ballet. The team of four Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH), called Dhruv, stole the hearts of the people by displaying some daredevil formations in the sky with dolphin’s leap, cross over break, double arrow, diagonal cross and Sarang split. It was a thrilling experience to watch the team perform, during certain manoeuvres when they seemed so tantalisingly close as to grate into each other! This was followed by the Flypast of air squadrons from INS Dega consisting of Chetaks, Kamov and Dornier aircraft.

A grand fireworks display lighted up the evening sky and the illuminated naval ships dotting the Bay of Bengal was a sight to behold.

However, the traffic police had a tough time managing the crowd after the end of the show.

Most of the roads and the narrow lanes on the beach road were jam-packed and it was a Herculean task to take out the vehicles from the parking lots. The major junctions in the city were a big chaos chocked with cars and two-wheelers and with families walking down the streets from the beach.

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