Russian Emergencies Ministry aircraft delivers 2 amphibious vehicles to Dresden

Russia's Emergencies Ministry aircraft delivered Monday two Bluebird amphibious vehicles to be used in eliminating the aftermath of the floods on the Elba.

The crisis headquarters of the Saxony Interior Ministry does not conceal that great hopes are pinned on the Russian equipment.

According to preliminary estimates, 740 km of roads have been destroyed in Saxony by the natural disaster.

"These two Russian bluebirds are of great value to us," Tomas Uslaub, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry of Saxony, has told newsmen.

According to Uslaub, the powerful amphibious vehicles, the carrying capacity of each being 2.5 tons, will be used in the Dresden-Meissen region. They will help rescuers reach the flooded villages cut off from dry land. These vehicles can work where any land rover is stuck.

Uslaub also said that he had known Russian machines since the time of the former GDR and considered them reliable. Of course, the distances here in Saxony cannot be compared with those in Russia, but even 740 km of destroyed roads is a great problem to us, the Interior Ministry spokesman stressed.