Three Il-76 aircraft of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations carrying additional special equipment to deal with the aftermath of heavy snowfalls have been dispatched to Kamchatka, the ministry's press service reported.
The first aircraft departed from Vladivostok and will deliver a loader, a snowmobile, and two snow-clearing machines to the peninsula. Two more Il-76 aircraft have been sent from Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod, carrying snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles on board. In total, the region will receive nine units of equipment.
The flights are being operated on the instructions of the Russian government and by order of Emergencies Minister Aleksandr Kurenkov. Rescuers are already working in populated areas of Kamchatka: clearing snow from social facilities, opening routes to kindergartens and schools, and helping transport citizens with limited mobility from the private sector to hospitals.
Snowfalls in Kamchatka have not stopped since mid-November. Due to a series of powerful cyclones, a municipal-level state of emergency has been introduced in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.