Nicosia, 14 August 2024 (MIA) - The Cypriot mission to aid North Macedonia in combating the forest fires has concluded, leaving a notable impression of its operational effectiveness, and is now heading back to Cyprus, said Savvas Iezekiel, Director of the Forestry Sector at Cyprus’ Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development, and Environment, told Cyprus News Agency (CNA), as reported by the MIA’s Athens correspondent.

As part of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism aid, two 'Air Tractor' planes from the Republic of Cyprus, along with four crew members and five ground support staff, arrived in Skopje last week. They have been engaged in firefighting efforts across various locations in our country over the past few days.

The Director of the relevant sector described the mission as highly successful, stating that 'we enhanced the systems and provided assistance to the Republic of North Macedonia during the five days requested by the EU. Today (August 14) in the afternoon, they will return to Cyprus along with the crew.’

"For five days, they intervened in multiple locations and successfully put out many fire fronts," Iezekiel told Cyprus News Agency.

In response to whether the fires in North Macedonia have been put out, he noted that they are still ongoing, 'since they started in beech and oak forests where firefighting is particularly hard and demands substantial ground forces rather than aerial support.’

On social media yesterday, the Forestry Sector of Cyprus' Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development, and Environment posted images of the Cypriot planes’ operations in the municipality of Pehchevo and Rabetino.

The 'Air Tractor' planes are equipped with suitable firefighting gear and foam application systems, as well as the necessary telecommunications equipment for coordinating with the Aircraft Unit in Larnaca and for transmitting information and photographic material.

Since mid-June 2024, the two planes have been included in the rescEU mechanism, with their mission in our country being their first operational task.

This morning, Stojanche Angelov, the Director of the Crisis Management Center (CMC), saw off the pilots and the rest of the aviation crew from the two 'Air Tractor' firefighting planes from Cyprus, as reported by the CMC.

According to the press release, the two 'Air Tractor' planes and their crew did everything possible, given their technical capabilities, to combat the fires in the country.

Angelov expressed profound gratitude for the assistance provided, both personally and for their country.

Photo: Ministry of Agriculture of Republic of Cyprus