MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Russian Emergencies Ministry has sent a plane carrying 30 tonnes (metric tons) of humanitarian aid to Ecuador, where a powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake occurred on Saturday.
"Under the order of the President of the Russian Federation [Vladimir Putin] to the Russian Emergencies Ministry an IL-76 [Ilyushin or Candid] plane left for Ecuador from the Ramenskoye airfield near Moscow," a ministry spokesperson told RIA Novosti early on Thursday.
The 30 metric tons of aid that the aircraft is carrying include food, tents and mobile power stations.
A powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Ecuador on Saturday, leading to the death of over 500 people.
Earlier this week, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa said the damage caused by the natural disaster would cost as much as $3 billion.
