Dubai: India on Monday sent an aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) to transport six empty cryogenic oxygen containers, Indian Ambassador to the UAE Pavan Kapoor told Gulf News.
Since Friday, the IAF has been airlifting empty oxygen tankers and containers for storage of liquid oxygen to various filling stations across India to speed up the distribution of the much-needed medical oxygen in treating COVID-19 patients.
“We had an IAF aircraft come by this morning and it has taken six empty cryogenic oxygen containers to India. It is on the way currently there This has been organised by the Government of India. We are sourcing it directly from the private sector here,” the envoy added.
“We have been trying for this for the last three-four days. We are hoping that we will have similar number [going] tomorrow,” he explained. Kapoor clarified that the Indian government hired the containers directly from the private sector in Dubai.
UAE government support
The ambassador said the UAE government was also preparing to support India. “They are also trying to help us in their own way. We have told them what are the things we are looking for and they are looking at to see what they can help us with,” he added.
On Sunday, Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation had a telephonic conversation with India’s External Affairs Minister Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
Sheikh Abdullah had reiterated the UAE’s full support for and solidarity with India and expressed the UAE’s keenness to dedicate all resources in support of the efforts currently undertaken by the government of India. He added that the leadership, government and people of the UAE are in full solidarity with India.
The C-17 heavy-lift transport aircraft of IAF was scheduled to arrive at Panagarh in West Bengal by 5:30pm there, according to a PTI report.
On Saturday, IAF picked up four cryogenic containers from Singapore, India media reported.
