ZHUKOVSKY (Moscow region). Nov 27 (Interfax) - Over 300 tonnes of humanitarian assistance was delivered by the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry's aviation in 2017, Anatoly Yakunov, deputy head of the ministry's aviation and aviation-rescue technology directorate, said.
"Emergency Situations Ministry aircraft flew 29 missions, which lasted a total of 123 hours, to deliver humanitarian assistance to various countries of the world," he told reporters on Monday.
A total of 302 tonnes of cargo was taken to Mexico, Sri Lanka, Yemen, Tajikistan, Vietnam, and some other countries, Yakunov said.
Emergency Situations Ministry aircraft was also actively involved in fighting wildfires in Serbia, Chile, and Armenia.
Since the beginning of this year, Emergency Situations Ministry aircraft have flown over 17,000 missions lasting a total of more than 14,100 hours, including 4,900 missions lasting 5,100 hours to react to emergency situations and 881 missions to protect populated areas and fight wildfires; over 33,000 tonnes of water was dumped on the fires, Yakunov said.