After the passage of Hurricane Eta through Honduras, which left a balance (for now) of 57 dead and 1.8 million victims and several areas of the country cut off, the Central American nation made an international call for assistance and humanitarian aid.
In response to this call from the Government of Honduras, the Colombian Air Force (FAC) issued a statement informing that it made its aircraft available to carry out transport, rescue and search and rescue (SAR) missions.
A Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter in Angel configuration (with medical equipment and for SAR missions) equipped with equipment such as a rescue crane, basket, jungle penetrator and a Zodiac-type boat will remain stationed in Honduras to carry out humanitarian support operations. This aircraft will take off from the Córdoba Arturo Lema Posada Air Base, located in the municipality of Rionegro (Antioquia department), from where it will make a flight of approximately 9 hours, passing through Panama, Costa Rica and El Salvador, before arriving at Honduras.
Likewise, a Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules aircraft will arrive to this country with 11.5 tons of humanitarian aid and members of the Colombian Civil Defense, with a medical rapid deployment system, to withstand the contingencies that its inhabitants go through.
The Colombian Air Force will also assign an Airbus C-295 aircraft that will depart in the next few days, to support two northern provinces of the Republic of Panama and will remain for three days carrying out missions of personnel and cargo transportation, thus contributing to attention to the emergency caused by the same phenomenon, which reached its shores as a tropical depression.
Once again, the Colombian Air Force crosses borders and extends its wings to reach those in need, providing aid to the populations most affected by the passage of the Hurricane, working together with the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management and foreign ministries, assisting its neighboring countries.