By Karen Bong
KUCHING, July 16: There is no obstacle too great, no challenge too difficult for the Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba), whose special air wing unit completed their mission of delivering Covid-19 vaccines to five interior areas stricken by floods in Miri today, by winching down boxes containing the vaccines.
Bomba Miri Zone chief Supt Law Poh Kiong, in a report following the successful completion of the mission, pointed out that all the landing fields at Long Jegan, Long Teru, Ulu Teru, Long Teran and Long Loyang were inundated by flood waters.
“In Long Jegan in particular, our helicopter was not able to make a landing so they had to hover over the flooded field while winching down the cold-storage boxes filled with vaccines for the waiting healthcare personnel,” he said.
In several videos, Bomba air wing crews can be seen winching down the Sinovac vaccines as medical staff in an inflatable boat got themselves wet from the water spray churned up by the rotor wash generated by the hovering helicopter, while some were in thigh-deep waters trying to secure the boat from drifting away.
One man was standing in the middle of the field that was no longer visible as he waited for the firefighter to winch the supplies down.
In this mission, the Bomba delivered a total of 81kg of vaccines and 25kg of consumables to these five areas, with Long Teru receiving 8kg worth of vaccine supply, along with Ulu Teru (25kg supply), Long Teran (15kg supply), Long Jegan (8kg supply) and Long Luyong (25kg supply).
The Bomba air wing unit lead by captain Mohd Ruzaidi Ramlee and co-pilot Muhammad Akmaludin Said departed Miri at 9.20am and completed the deliveries in about two hours before returning to base at about 11.30am. — DayakDaily
