MOSCOW. Jan 14 (Interfax) - The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry is preparing to send a fourth plane to help in relief efforts in Haiti following the devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake that hit the Caribbean state on Tuesday.
It is expected to depart on Thursday night. The plane will carry rescuers, rescue equipment, a BK-117 helicopter and humanitarian aid, a ministry source told Interfax.
Three Ilyushin Il-76 planes have already flown to Haiti from the Ramenskoye airfield near Moscow. 120 people have so far been sent, including rescuers, dog handlers, psychologists and doctors. A mobile hospital, cross-country vehicles and other necessities have also been stored on the planes.
The 50-bed hospital can operate autonomously. It includes an intensive care unit, a surgery unit, a diagnostic unit, an ultrasound, an X-ray unit and a blood laboratory.
If necessary, the hospital and its staff can be airdropped into an emergency zone. The first patients can be received 40 minutes after the landing.
On Wednesday, President Dmitry Medvedev ordered Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu to help quake victims in Haiti.