Eighty South African military personnel have arrived in flood-swamped Mozambique and eight military aircrafts were arriving in the port city of Beira on Friday to assist with flood relief operations.
The South African team will help deliver emergency supplies to flood victims in refugee camps and rescue people stranded on islands along the Zambezi River, said their spokesman Hugo Weich.
The first priority is to rescue some 5,000 people who need to be immediately evacuated from islands near where the Shire River joins the Zambezi.
The aircraft include four fixed-wing airplanes and four helicopters.
The South Africans plan to use two of the helicopters to deliver supplies and the other two for search-and-rescue missions.
South Africa was the first country to come to the rescue of its neighbor when the floods struck Mozambique last year, providing military helicopters to airlift people trapped by the waters -- BEIRA, Mozambique (AFP)
