Damaged runway hinders relief efforts
BALIKPAPAN: The Royal Malaysian Air Force’s (RMAF) A400M aircraft, which is on a humanitarian mission to fly in food and heavy machinery for the Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami disaster victims, is allowed to fly only to Balikpapan, Kalimantan.
No. 22 Squadron commanding officer Lt Col Baharin Mohamad said the decision against landing in Palu, the area affected by the major disasters, was made due to safety concerns.
“We (are made to) understand that there is some damage to the Palu airport runway.
“The Indonesian authorities are not allowing large aircraft, such as the A400M, to land there.
“From Balikpapan, the humanitarian aid will be flown by C-130H aircraft belonging to the RMAF and the Indonesian Air Force,” said Baharin, who took part in the humanitarian mission.
He said the A400M could land in less than 1,829m and could take off in 1,067m.
Meanwhile, about 5,000kg of food supplies, as well as two oil tankers, were flown by RMAF’s A400M aircraft to here from Halim Perdana Kusuma Airport in Jakarta about 3pm on Thursday.
He said two more RMAF C130Hs would be flown from Kuching Air Force Base to Balikpapan, and then Palu, for the same mission, today.
He added that two EC725 helicopters would be flown from Labuan to Balikpapan today before going to Palu.