VIVAnews - Indonesian Red Cross flew eight air forces that include seven helicopters and one commercial cargo plan to West Sumatra. The air forces were chosen because they are able to reach remote areas that have yet to receive any assistance.
Out of the nine planes, four units departed from Halim Perdana Kusuma airport, Jakarta carrying 11 bales of infant formula, four fogging machines and 15 hand sprayers. Meanwhile, the other four units left for West Sumatra from Medan, North Sumatra.
The air force assignment is a joint work between the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) and the Transportation Department together with various airlines that include Deraya, Pelita Air, Air Transport Service, Air Pacific, Eastindo, Gatari and Indika Energy. The planes will be used to support Red Cross’ emergency responses operation in West Sumatra for 2 weeks (14 days) from October 16 to 30, 2009.
“PMI believes that the helicopters will enable aids distribution to remote and isolated areas in a more focused and faster way,” PMI Chairperson Mar’ie Muhammad in his press release on Friday, October 16.
Director General of Air Transportation, Herry Bakti, said there were still a lot of unreachable areas. “I hope these planes will be able to go through the remote areas. We are also expecting the recovery process in West Sumatra to be faster,” he said.
The types of airplanes sent were BAe ATP (2 units), Puma SA-330 (1 unit), BO-105 (1 unit), Bell-407 (2 units), Equirel (1 unit), and BK 117 (1 unit). The pilots include Captain Sampoerno, Captain Adji Pantja and Captain Heru Susatyo.
Four airplanes taking off this morning, October 16, are expected to arrive at Tabing airport in Padang this afternoon. As soon as they landed, the cargo planes will immediately unload 6 tons of relief goods to be distributed to various areas.
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Translated by: Nataya Ermanti
