27 Air Force personnel dead in Car Nicobar: Pranab

Twenty-seven Indian Air Force personnel were killed and 75 to 100 are missing in Car Nicobar, one of the worst hit areas of Andaman and Nicobar Islands [ Images ] by Sunday's tsunami.

Also see: Over 100 soldiers feared killed | Complete Coverage

Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee [ Images ], Congress president Sonia Gandhi [ Images ] and Air Chief S Krishnaswamy visited the island on Tuesday.

Senior air force officials told Mukherjee that they planned to evacuate about a thousand people each day to Tamil Nadu and Port Blair.

Also see: Biggest relief mobilisation ever

On Monday alone, the IAF evacuated about a thousand people, mostly labourers, to safer places.