The Gangasagar Mela, the week-long Hindu pilgrimage that takes place each January where the Bay of Bengal meets the Ganges River, is a sacred time for millions throughout India. The crowd size makes it a perilous time as well: A man suffered a stroke, a toddler became separated in the crowd from her mother and the father of a teenager nearly drowned, according to news reports.

Members of the West Bengal Radio Club, who have been a steady presence at the Mela for many years, are deployed with their radios into the crowd, connecting with a central hub. To successfully find the toddler’s mother, a trio of radio operators shared a photo of the 3-year-old with others and reached out to an amateur radio operator in the family’s hometown in Bangladesh for additional information.

In another instance, a teenage girl said her father had not returned from his visit to the shore of the island, prompting the hams to conduct a search. They got in touch with the on-site health centre and learned that he had been transported there after nearly drowning earlier in the day in the shallow waters surrounding the island.

The hams were also able to reassure the family of a 64-year-old stroke patient. They contacted his family to let him know he required medical assistance and had been airlifted to Kolkata for treatment.