Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile

At 04:53 this morning the Ilyushin IL-76 plane, with the Aviation Group Nº10 of the Air Force, landed on Chilean territory. This plane facilitated by the Russian Government arrived to collaborate in the fight against the forest fires that have hit our country during the last weeks. The aircraft was recieved by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Heraldo Muñoz, accompanied by Russian Ambassador in Chile, Vladimir V. Trukhanovskii.

"I've expressed (to Colonel Alexander Markov, group leader) the appreciation of the government and the people of Chile to the Russian Government and Air Force for travelling more than 32 hours to get to our country. The Colonel has expressed his total disposition to work and be effective. We know they will be an incredible help to extinguish the fire", stated the Minister after the landing.

The Secretary of State added that this help "reflects the excellent relationships between Chile and Russia, and also the friendship network we have cultivated through the years has made other countries, air forces and firefighters arrive to our country to show effectively their solidarity and appreciation for Chile".

The aircraft will fly during the morning to the Araucania Airport and from there it will operate over the whole region. After this, it will fly to the Los Ríos and Los Lagos region or wherever Conaf indicates their services are needed. "The government is coordinated with Conaf and Onemi, and until now it has been operating very well. We are sure that this plane is going to be a great contribution to fight the fire as has been demonstrated by the SuperTanker", highlighted Minister Muñoz.

The Ilyushin IL-76 is 47 meters long, 50 meters of magnitude and 14 meters tall. It can take more than 40 tons of water and discharge it on the fire zone from an altitude of fifty to a hundred meters covering a surface of 1,25 km2. The Colonel Markov highlighted the sending of fire fighting specialists from the Russian Federation and abroad. "We hope that our work with other countries present here help fight the fires in the Republic of Chile as soon as possible", stated Colonel Markov.

Foreign Minister Muñoz indicated that this plan will stay in our country "the time necessary to control and hopefully extinguish the fires. We have a direct connection with the Russian Government, so if we need to extend its stay, we will extend it". He also added "the solidarity of the Russian Government has been very clear in providing this airplane experienced in international fire fightings".

With the arrival of this plane, there are now six foreign aircrafts operating in our country. Also, around 600 firefighters and experts have arrived from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Spain, United States, France, Japan, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Portugal and Venezuela to help. Tomorrow there is a planned arrival of the Antonov plane, also from Russia, with four helicopters on its inside.