On 26 December 2004 at 0630 hours, Carnicobar was hit by severe Earthquake followed by Tsunami. During and after the Tsunami onslaught, Squadron Leader Sushil Vijay Sansare was involved in saving lives and organizing safe conduct of rescue and relief operations. After being hit by the first wave, he courageously waded through the chest deep water to help the stranded families in the buildings. Upon being hit by the second wave, he barely managed to evade the neck deep water and save his life by running towards tarmac. He instructed the crew to position the aircraft on the runway. He then went towards the submerged end of the runway entering into neck deep reptile infested water and helped 15 stranded families mostly ladies and children to the safety of high ground. He recovered two personnel almost dead and brought them towards ambulance, however inspite of his best efforts, they could not be revived. With the help of Sqn ground crew, the body of IOC manager was brought back from the rubble.

He organized the ATC personnel to recover all the communication equipment and fuel tankers immediately to the tarmac to refuel the helicopters towards uninterrupted rescue operations and for airlifting the stranded people. His relentless efforts toward search and rescue and total involvement in casualty evacuation/relief operations resulted in saving many lives. It aptly exhibited sense of 'Service Before Self'.

Squadron Leader Sushil Vijay Sansare, thus, showed exceptional courage and gallantry beyond call of duty, in saving lives in the face of natural disaster.