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EMERCOM jets to airlift humanitarian aid to New York citizens

Two cargo jets of the Ilyushin-76 family are expected to take off from EMERCOM’s airdrome at Ramenskoye

MOSCOW, November 13 (Itar-Tass) – Jets of Russia’s Ministry for Emergency Situations and Civil Defense /EMERCOM/ are expected to airlift a consignment of humanitarian aid to the residents of New York.

Two cargo jets of the Ilyushin-76 family are expected to take off from EMERCOM’s airdrome at Ramenskoye, to the southeast of Moscow, at around 15:00 hours Moscow Standard Time /11:00 hours GMT/.

According to the initial plans, the jet were to fly out of Moscow Monday, November 12 but their takeoff was postponed “after consultations with the American side and for objective reasons,” a spokesman for EMERCOM’s information center said.

The consignment consists of about 50 tons of relief supplies, mostly blankets.

Aid is addressed to the residents of New York who have sustained damage from the hurricane Sandy, which pounded the U.S. East Coast October 29 and took away more than a hundred human lives.

At the end of October when the hurricane was still raging, Russia’s Minister for Emergency Situations and Civil Defense Vladimir Puchkov issued an instruction to consider emergency aid to the countries stricken by Sandy.

To date, EMERCOM has rendered humanitarian aid to Cuba by dispatching jets with relief supplies to the Freedom Island upon its government’s request.

The previous time EMERCOM gave humanitarian aid to the U.S. was in September 2005 in the aftermath of the hurricane Katrina. It delivered more than 60 tons of cargoes – medicines, food rations, tents, and blankets – to the calamity-stricken areas of the country then.