ID :
363232
Mon, 04/13/2015 - 12:33
Auther :

Malaysia To Use C-130 Hercules Aircraft To Evacuate Students From Aden

KUALA LUMPUR, April 13 (Bernama) -- A C-130 Hercules aircraft that belongs to the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) arrived in Djibouti Sunday, in preparation to fly out 67 Malaysian students from Aden, which was among the most unpredictable and tense locations in Yemen currently. Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said all the students would be flown to Jeddah after their successful evacuation from Aden and later brought back home through commercial airlines. He said Aden was currently the focus of ministries and agencies involved in the evacuation mission, as it was currently involved in the conflict. Hishammuddin said the agencies involved, namely the Ministry of Defence, the National Security Council and Wisma Putra (Foreign Ministry), were continuously monitoring the progress of Malaysian students, particularly those in Aden. "As of 3am yesterday (Sunday), they had access to food and drink, and were safe, what's important is people must understand that Aden is a battleground, not only (people of) our country, but (people from) other countries are also trapped," he told reporters after the conferment of the Darjah Kepahlawanan Angkatan Tentera (DKAT) to 358 recipients here Monday. He said Malaysia, as chairman of ASEAN, had a responsibility towards students from all ASEAN member countries. "We can also bring along their students, besides that, as chairman, we can also share information with other ASEAN countries and cooperate (with them) to enable the evacuation process to run more smoothly," he said. Hishammuddin was also grateful to receive cooperation from other countries such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Djibouti and Oman, which allowed the country's aircrafts to land in their territories, thereby further facilitating the evacuation process. The RMAF aircraft was flown from the UAE after arriving there with another similar aircraft last Wednesday. In another development, he said 168 Malaysians had been successfully transferred from Hadramawt to Salalah, Oman, and would be repatriated through three commercial flights Monday. -- BERNAMA

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