In response to the request for international assistance made by Chile in the frame of the emergency caused by the forest fires that it is currently fighting the country in its central and southern areas, the Government of Colombia, through the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management- UNGRD, in coordination with the National Personnel Recovery Center and the Colombian Air Force, activated a plan to support the sister country.
The Colombian Air Force sent a crew of the C-295 aircraft of the Military Transport Air Command- CATAM, which in a humanitarian flight, will transport from Bogotá 20 men of the Cali-Valle del Cauca Fire Department, a Red Cross volunteer, 05 of the Special Operations Unit in Emergencies and Disasters of the National Police and a member of the UNGRD. In the same way, it will transport necessary equipment and tools, so that specialists in this type of emergency can contribute to the extinction of the dozens of fires, which have already burned more than 270 thousand hectares in Chilean territory.
Similarly, last night the Military Air Transport Command sent a C-295 aircraft to transport the members of the Fire Brigade from Cali to Bogota, who joined the rest of the group today to board for Chile.
The mission of transporting personnel, equipment and cargo will take more than 10 hours of flight from Bogotá, crossing the Andes mountain range, with initial destination Santiago de Chile, from where it is expected to support different requirements to face this emergency.
In this way, the Colombian Air Force, through its air Resources, supports its sister countries and contributes to preserve the environment.
Source: Press – Colombian Air Force
