Loaded with over a thousand tents and shelters, five water purification stations and malaria treatments, an Antonov aeroplane rushed to aid the people in cyclone-stricken Mozambique.

In close cooperation with Bolloré Logistics France, Antonov Airlines has flown 65,000 tonnes of relief supplies and personnel from Chalons Vatry Airport in France to Beira in Mozambique in an AN-124-100 aircraft to assist with humanitarian efforts in the aftermath of Cyclone Idai, that killed more than a thousand people.

“Speed and efficiency are key when flying aid to a disaster area, and after the aircraft arrived in Vatry, loading took five hours to complete. We were ready for take-off by the time we received the final over-flight permits,” said Paul Bingley, commercial manager at Antonov Airlines.

Antonov worked together with French logistics provider Bolloré Logistics which has an office in Beira, the fourth largest city in Mozambique.

“Antonov Airlines had the hold capacity and flexibility we needed to bring life-saving supplies and assistance to Mozambique in the shortest possible timeframe,” said Karine Dantier, Charter Director, Bolloré Logistics.

“The Bolloré Logistics office in Beira, which was at the epicentre of the disaster, provided support staff to facilitate the unloading of the cargo, and having all the necessary expertise, provided handling, administration and the final delivery.” Antonov and Bolloré completed the humanitarian project in only six days

Cyclone Idai hit Mozambique with deadly force on March 4 and raged over the island for five days. The cyclone claimed the lives of over 600 civilians in Mozambique, 344 people in Zimbabwe and another 60 in Malawi.

Idai was one of the worst tropical cyclones on record to affect Africa and the Southern Hemisphere. It currently ranks as the third deadliest, although the exact death toll is expected to never be known. At the end of April Mozambique was hit by another cyclone called Kenneth, which took the lives of another 41 people.