London, October 04: A new system for organising Britain’s official high-speed response to international emergencies failed to get a team of rescuers to help people trapped by the Indonesian earthquake until more than three days after the first tremors, it emerged yesterday.
A team of rescuers put together by the British Government to help was due on the island of Sumatra last night, three days after a huge quake brought down hundreds of buildings – and hours after British volunteers already on the ground claimed there was no one left to save.
A team of 65 UK firefighters – being paid at a rate of time and a half by the taxpayer – plus humanitarian experts was delayed by 24 hours and plunged into a desperate struggle to find a new aircraft after their original plane developed a technical fault on Friday. The official team, put together by the Fire and Rescue Services (FRS) and the Department for International Development (DfID), eventually left from RAF Brize Norton after they were allocated a C17 military transport aircraft. The team was due to arrive late last night, but there were reports they would be told they would not be needed.
–Agencies