UK dispatches largest Covid relief for India

Britain loaded the world’s largest cargo plane (the Russian-make Antonov

124 aircraft) through Thursday night to despatch a flight carrying three surplus 18-tonne oxygen generators and

1,000 ventilators for India on Friday from Belfast, Northern Ireland, the

British High Commiission said on Friday, even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday spoke to his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison to thank him for Australian aid to India to battle pandemic. PM Modi has already thanked several world leaers including US President Joe Biden, British PM Boris Johnson and Rusian President Vladimir Putin among others for the aid extended by their respective countroes to India which is currently beig battered by a ferocious Covid second wave that is claiming thousands of lives every day.

In a statement, the British High Commission (BHC) said, “A flight carrying three surplus 18-tonne oxygen generators and 1,000 ventilators due to leave Belfast today in support of India’s fight against Covid-19. The World’s largest cargo plane loaded through the night with life-saving oxygen equipment from UK. Each oxygen generator produces 500 litres of oxygen per minute and is the size of a 40ft shipping container.”

Giving details, the BHC said, “The world’s largest cargo plane will leave Belfast this morning, carrying three 18-tonne oxygen generators and 1,000 ventilators as part of the UK’s latest response to India’s Covid-19 crisis. Airport staff worked through the night to load the life-saving kit, funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, aboard the massive Antonov 124 aircraft.”

The BHC added, “Each of the three oxygen generation units – the size of 40ft freight containers - produces 500 litres of oxygen per minute, enough for 50 people to use at a time. They are expected to reach India on Sunday morning, where the Indian Red Cross will help transfer them to hospitals. This support, previously announced, is in addition to 200 ventilators and 495 oxygen concentrators, which the UK sent to India in late April.”