World Vision to airlift relief aid to Monrovia;
Liberians returning
Monrovia, Liberia - A charter
ship due here with $86,000 in relief goods for displaced Liberians has
sunk off the coast of Sierra Leone, according to the international Christian
humanitarian organization World Vision. The ship ran into a sandbank during
a storm; all 22 people aboard reached shore safely.
"It's a setback, but we'll have more relief goods here before the end of the week to meet critical needs in the country," said World Vision relief official Rich Moseanko.
On board the ship, the 140-ton Madame Patricia, were 15,000 blankets, 4.8 tons of laundry soap, 1,200 plastic buckets, 4,000 water cans and 1,200 sleeping mats, four generators, 24 drums of diesel and eight drums of gasoline. World Vision was prepared to distribute the goods to 21,000 Monrovia residents.
World Vision now is arranging a charter of additional relief goods from Brindisi, Italy, where the organization maintains a warehouse. That airlift - which includes blankets, plastic sheeting, cooking sets and water containers - is expected to arrive later this week.
The firm that procured the supplies, International Associated Services, Ltd., based in Freetown, Sierra Leone, has worked with World Vision for several years. World Vision staff already have begun interviewing members of the ship's crew in their review of the incident, which occurred off the coast of Sierra Leone sometime between Saturday evening and sunrise on Sunday.
All indications are that weather caused the ship to sink. Foul play is not suspected. World Vision has an additional quarter million dollars in relief goods still in Sierra Leone, or en route to the region by ship. "People are finally beginning to feel that it's safe," said Moseanko. "They're starting to return to their homes, only to find that everything they had is missing. It's even more urgent now that we get relief supplies here to help people resume their lives as quickly as possible."