As of yesterday (Sunday, 18 January) the SA Air Force (SAAF) has three helicopters working post flood disaster recovery operations.
An Oryx medium transport helicopter is, according to the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) Directorate Corporate Communication (DCC), now in the Mozambican capital, Maputo, carrying “a search and rescue team”. The tasking to South Africa’s eastern neighbour, badly affected by flooding in the wake of heavy rain which also left a trail of havoc in the Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces, was activated in terms of Operation Chariot, the standing SANDF Joint Operations Division disaster support and humanitarian assistance tasking.
The Mozambique deployment comes days after the death of Rosita Pedro, born in a tree during devastating floods in March 2000. She and her mother were hoisted from their precarious perch by a SAAF helicopter, one of five dispatched for search and rescue in the wake of some of the worst flooding in memory.
DCC Director, Brigadier General Selinah Rawlins, said the Oryx will operate “in conjunction with various emergency rescue teams and Mozambican disaster management agencies adding “more air assets are scheduled to be deployed from South Africa to assist in the rescue mission”.
It joins another Oryx and an Agusta A109 LUH from Air Force Mobile Deployment Wing (AF MDW) and Air Force Base (AFB) Hoedspruit deployed last week on search and rescue operations in Limpopo and Mpumalanga.
