Earlier on Friday, the Telangana government took the help of the Indian Air Force's warplanes to airlift oxygen from Odisha. At the Begumpet Airport, Health Minister Eatala Rajender and Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar oversaw the sending of empty cylinders to Bubaneswar.

In all, seven filled oxygen containers will be air-lifted from Bhubaneswar. Filled tankers will return to State by road by April 27.

It's learned that the state government is looking at getting 150 metric tonnes of oxygen from the Angul and Rourkela steel plants.

Complimenting the Minister-CS duo, KTR tweeted, "I compliment them for supervising Oxygen tankers airlifting from Hyderabad to Orissa to bring back oxygen faster to Telangana - saving 3 days & many valuable lives. First time in India."

News18 has reported that C-17, IL-76, C-130 J, AN-32 and AVROS, all of which are IAF's aircraft, have been deployed to manage the supply obstacles in the distribution of oxygen.