RUSSIA's Volga-Dnepr Airlines has flown free of charge an outsized medical vehicle from Miami to Sendai airport in Japan to help survivors of last month's devastating earthquake and tsunami.

    The AN-124-100 Ruslan freighter flight was the first international civil flight to land at Sendai Airport on April 14 since flood waters and debris from the tsunami deluged the airport on March 11.

    "Although the airport was seriously affected by the natural disaster, all the necessary safety conditions were ensured for the landing of the AN-124-100 heavy freighter with its urgently-needed relief load onboard," a statement from the carrier said.

    It said the AN-124-100 cargo aircraft was chosen for the mission owing to the exceptional height of the medical van, which exceeded 3.5 metres. The mobile medical van was delivered on behalf of the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in the US and is designed to provide on-the-spot diagnostics and treatment of ophthalmologic diseases in regions where medical centres had been destroyed or badly damaged.

    Volga-Dnepr group president Alexey Isaikin said: "We hope that the mobile medical equipment we have delivered today will ensure the lives of many people affected by this natural disaster are made a little easier."

 (Source:http://www.schednet.com)