‘‘Fasten your seat belts, we are landing,’’ was the urgent voice of Air Force personnel Srivastava, conveying the emergency command of the young pilot Flt Lt Puneet Chaddha. Landing? But wasn’t it supposed to be a 50-minute flight from Jamnagar to Somnath.

The helicopter was carrying a team of eight mediapersons, accompanying Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani to Somnath for his annual tryst with the temple. Though the crew of the 119 Squadron on the Mi-8 tried to appear calm it was clear it was an emergency. The gear box of the Russian-made helicopter had developed a snag and an emergency landing had to be made.

The helicopter made a vertical landing in the middle of the fields in a small village called Rabarika in Rajkot district. Curious villagers started surrounding the helicopter. And within minutes there were hundreds of people looking at the chopper. Initially, some of the men thought that we were surveyors from the insurance company who had come to see their fields. Flt Lt Chaddha had sent an SOS message, conveying the emergency, and also asked for another chopper. Help, finally, came after about 50 minutes.