Jammu, May 8 (PTI) A four-year-old boy was killed and three others were injured after their vehicle fell into a gorge in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district on Saturday, officials said and added two of those hurt were critical and airlifted to Jammu by the IAF for specialised treatment.

A mini-load carrier, which was being driven by Imtiyaz Ahmad (22), skidded off the road near Rajpora and fell into the gorge. Mohammad Rayees died on the spot, police said.

They were going to Mandi from Banote.

Besides Ahmad, 12-year-old Mohammad Sulaiman and Ghulam Qader (40) were injured in the accident, police said.

Ahmad and Qader were critically injured and after preliminary treatment in Rajouri were airlifted in an Indian Air Force (IAF) MI-17 helicopter to Jammu for specialised treatment, they said.

Police said the condition of Sulaiman is stated to be “stable”.

"On receipt of request from the divisional commissioner of Jammu, Air Commodore A S Pathania, Air Officer Commanding, Air Force Station, Jammu, and his team exhibited highest standards of professionalism by a quick launch of rescue mission and precise coordination making it successful and life saving for two injured civilians,” a defence spokesman said.

He said on being requisitioned by the civil administration, the IAF deployed its MI-17 helicopter and defying bad weather set on its mission.

The mission was led by Squadron Leader Prem Pratik. The helicopter took off from the Jammu Air base and landed at the Rajouri Advance Landing Grounds site, the spokesman said.

The civil administration and the medical services team helped the critically injured civilians -- Qader and Ahmed -- to be shifted inside the helicopter, he said.

The spokesman said the critically injured civilians were immediately flown to Jammu for further treatment at the Government medical College there.

"The overall ground air coordination for the entire rescue mission was done under Group Captain Sandeep Singh, the Chief Operations Officer of Jammu Air Base,” he said.

He said the highest level of civil-military cooperation, ground air coordination and cockpit resource management by all crew members made the mission a success.

"The mission and its execution was in line with the highest traditions of IAF and helicopter unit which once again lived up to their Motto 'count on us',” the spokesman said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)