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ශ්‍රී ලංකා යුද්ධ හමුදාව

ජාතියේ ආරක්ෂකයා

Sri Lankan Relief Contingent in Nepal Returns Home to a Warm Welcome

Having kept the Sri Lankan National Flag flying nearly for 16 days while showing earthquake-affected Nepalese that ‘We are also concerned as part of the relief solution to them’, the Sri Lankan tri-service rescue and relief contingent, returned home Monday (11) evening to a warm welcome at the Colombo Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA).

The rescue and relief contingent, comprised of 14 officers, 127 other rankers of the tri-services and 4 civil medical consultants, was commanded by Major General Maithri Dias. Brigadier Jagath Gunawardene served as the Deputy Commander of the contingent which was among the first three foreign relief teams to have arrived in Nepal in less than a day after the tragedy struck early morning on April 26.

The contingent, made up of 116 Army, 14 Navy, 11 Air Force personnel, plus 4 Medical Consultants on the directions of HE the President and Hon. Prime Minister was dispatched to Nepal with active coordination, provided by the Commander of the Army, Lieutenant General Crishanthe De Silva within a matter of 7 - 8 hours after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake devastated Nepal included personnel from Sri Lanka Army Medical Corps (SLAMC), Sri Lanka Engineers (SLE), Sri Lanka Army Service Corps (SLASC), Sri Lanka Signal Corps (SLSC), Commandos and a few other personnel.

Major General E.M.M Ambanpola, Deputy Chief of Staff, Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe, Adjutant General, Major General Mahesh Senanayake, Military Secretary,  Major General Sanjeewa Munasinghe, Director General, Army Health Services, Major General L.N Wickramasuriya, Chief Field Engineer, Major General B.A Perera, Director General General Staff, Brigadier M. Mudannayake, Director Movement, Brigadier Jayantha Gunaratne, Director Operations and Brigadier Jayanath Jayaweera, Director Media, Navy & Air Force Senior Officers and several other senior officers were present at the airport.