BEIJING, Feb. 15 -- A disaster relief supplies transportation fleet dispatched by the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy arrived at the Nuku'alofa Port, Tonga, around 10:00 a.m. UTC+13, February 15, 2022.
The fleet consists of PLA Navy's amphibious dock landing ship Wuzhishan (Hull 987) and supply ship Chaganhu (Hull 967).
The two ships bring a total of 1400-odd tons of supplies including mobile houses, tractors, generators, pumps, water purifiers, emergency food and medical and epidemic prevention equipment. All the supplies had received disinfection processing and sampling inspection and quarantine for multiple times before loading.
The fleet departed from Guangzhou on January 31. After 16 days of non-stop sailing, the fleet completed a voyage of over 5,200 sea miles and arrived at Tonga on Tuesday. This relief mission follows China's delivery of multiple batches of emergency supplies to Tonga, which was hit by a massive volcano eruption in January and its ensuing tsunami.
At present, confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been found in Tonga. On the landing ship Wuzhishan there are medical professionals and equipment, which makes the Chinese naval transportation fleet capable of carrying out epidemic prevention and control and medical treatment. The fleet will also provide assistance within its capacity according to the follow-up request of the Tongan side.
