The Antonov AN 124 landed in Réunion this Thursday, December 19, very early. Equipped with a considerable transport capacity, this plane, belonging to a private Ukrainian company which rents its services, was loaded with relief and rescue equipment destined for Mayotte where chaos gripped the place after the passage of the Cyclone Chido, Saturday December 14.
This Antonov AN 124 took off from Istres Air Base 125 on Wednesday, December 18, late in the afternoon. The cargo coming from the SDIS du Gard and the Civil Security of Brignoles (Var) had been brought there upstream. Transported by four people, this imposing load includes, in particular, equipment intended to set up the ESCRIM (Rapid Civil Security Element for Medical Intervention), that is to say a field hospital in the disaster zone.
In addition to the fact that all this equipment was provided by the SDIS of Gard and the Civil Security of Var which are geographically close, it must also be remembered that the BA 125 has a platform ideally sized to manage this type of device and traffic. . In the days, or even hours to come, A330 MRTTs, capable of transporting freight and passengers (particularly rescue workers), or other chartered private aircraft could leave for Reunion.
