RMAF SENDS HUMANITARIAN AID MISSION TO SULAWESI, INDONESIA

SUBANG, Oct 3 (Bernama) -- The Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) is sending an A400M aircraft in its humanitarian assistance mission in Palu, Sulawesi which was struck by earthquake and tsunami last week.

Subang Air Base commander Brig Gen Datuk Muhammad Mudzamir Ong Abdullah said the first flight would depart early tomorrow morning for Jakarta before continuing its journey to Palu in Sulawesi.

“The A400M aircraft will be used to transport equipment such as heavy machinery from Jakarta to Palu for the rescue of victims.

“The actual operation will start from Jakarta to Palu which will take 2 hours 45 minutes and for our mission we will be making two flights from Jakarta to Palu daily during the operation for four days,” he told reporters after inspecting preparations for the mission here tonight.

According to him, the A400M aircraft will not face much problems landing in Palu as it is capable of taking off and landing on a short runway.

He said RMAF was concerned with the tragic situation in a neighbouring country and decided to embark on a humanitarian mission in the island.

“The Indonesian government has been waiting for help from RMAF which has the A400M aircraft to transport heavier load compared to the C130H,” he said.

The mission is mounted by 23 RMAF personnel with three local media representatives as well as 22 tonnes of supplies.

The earthquake followed a tsunami of up to six metres struck Palu and Donggala which took the lives of 1,400 victims while 50,000 residents were reported missing from their houses.

Media reports said more than 200,000 earthquake victims were urgently in need of emergency assistance.

-- BERNAMA