A plane packed with tons of food and drink help hurricane hit villages in the Caribbean has flown out of East Midlands Airport.

A Boeing 747-400 departed from the Castle Donington airport on Friday, September 22, loaded with 70 tonnes of bottled water and 40 tonnes of ready-to-eat meals. The aid will support the 1,000 British troops helping to deal with the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Irma.

The flight arrived at Barbados' Grantley Adams International Airport where items were handed out to troops delivering emergency aid to those affected by the hurricane.

The goods were donated by Ministry of Defence and East Midlands Airport was chosen for the venue for the flight due to its central location.

Hurricane Irma has killed at least 75 people, leaving a trail of destruction in the Caribbean before hitting the US state of Florida where it caused tens of billions of pounds of damage.

The UK has promised to donate £32 million in aid and, along with France and the Netherlands, sent rescue teams and emergency supplies to help.

The plane left East Midlands Airport for the Caribbean Islands on Friday

The relief effort at East Midlands Airport was organised by UK charter broker, Air Charter Service on a plane operated by British cargo airline, CargoLogicAir.

Dmitry Grishin, chief executive of CargoLogicAir, said: "In the immediate period after a natural disaster, the first priority is to ensure a fast response to help victims and relief workers by providing basic essentials such as fresh water, food and medical equipment, and to help restore the power, water and communications infrastructure.

"Once some stability is restored in the region, the next phase will be to begin the huge rebuilding programme that is needed across the Caribbean, which is likely to require further air logistics support.

"With our network into Mexico, we will be able to offer more capacity, not only on a charter basis, but also by utilising our regular services into the region."

This was the firm's third charter flight carrying goods to the Caribbean region in a period of seven days. It has already delivered more than 200 tonnes of relief goods for the French Government.

Howard Ebison, East Midlands Airport's commercial director, said: "We are delighted to be able to facilitate CargoLogicAir's flight which is taking goods to a stricken part of the world.

"The reputation we have for being a leading cargo hub combined with our central location means that we can respond quickly to such requests.

"I am proud that we are playing a part in supporting British troops overseas, enabling them to receive much needed supplies to allow them to continue with their relief efforts."

East Midlands Airport handles 330,000 tonnes of cargo a year.

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