Army personnel have rescued a woman and her 15-day-old child stranded for days on the first floor of a partially submerged building in the Dhangai village of Punjab's Gurdaspur district, and took them to safety through 18 kilometres of inundated terrain.

Sappers of the Army's Kharga Corps were on Saturday informed about the newborn and the mother, who had undergone a cesarian procedure just a fortnight ago, marooned in the house for four days.

Swinging into action, the personnel rescued them using an improvised ladder and took the duo to safety, navigating for three kilometres through strong water current by boat and the next 15 kilometres of submerged route in an Army vehicle, all the while providing them milk and water, a statement said. The mother and child were reunited with their family.

Punjab is under the grip of massive floods, caused by the swollen Sutlej, Beas and Ravi rivers and seasonal rivulets due to heavy rain in their catchment areas in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

Villages worst-affected by the floods were in Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Fazilka, Kapurthala, Tarn Taran, Ferozepur, Hoshiarpur and Amritsar districts.

Relief and rescue operations by the Army, NDRF, BSF, Punjab Police and district authorities continued on a war footing in the affected areas.

Earlier, Lieutenant General Manoj Katiyar, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Western Command, visited flood-affected border areas. He also assessed the ground situation, reviewed relief measures and interacted with civilians, NDRF and relief columns.

Complimenting the efforts of all stakeholders, he reassured citizens of the Army's full support in safeguarding lives and property.

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