Hat Yai, Thailand – On November 27, 2025, an air search-and-rescue team from the Special Warfare Command carried out a dramatic evacuation in Zone Eight of Hat Yai District, using an MI-17 helicopter to lift stranded residents to safety while they floated beneath the aircraft in a large rescue basket.

The operation was conducted jointly with the 41st Battalion of the Army Aviation Center. The team responded to severe flooding that had left vulnerable residents trapped inside their homes, including an elderly husband and wife with kidney disease, and a woman with chronic heart disease living with her 11-year-old son.

In the most striking moment of the mission, rescuers secured the group inside a massive inverted-mushroom-shaped basket attached to the helicopter by a long cable. Suspended beneath the aircraft, nine people—including soldiers tasked with protecting and stabilizing the passengers—were hoisted at once, rising above the floodwaters while seated together in the airborne basket.

These rescued individuals were transported for continued medical treatment at Songklanagarind Hospital in Kho Hong, Hat Yai.

Following the evacuation, the helicopter team conducted an aerial survey of the remaining flooded areas. They located 20 additional residents still inside their homes. Those individuals said they did not wish to evacuate because water levels appeared to be decreasing, so the team delivered food and drinking water to ease the immediate hardship.

Army officials stated that operations will continue until all residents receive rapid, thorough and safe assistance as the crisis unfolds.

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