Five thousand officers and soldiers of a certain Red Army division of the Jinan Military Region reached the earthquake-stricken areas of Sichuan by airdrop this morning. This is the largest air rescue operation in the history of the Chinese army.
According to Wang Genxue, logistics minister of the Jinan Military Region who was on-site organizing the airdrop at the Luoyang Airport, due to the tight schedule and heavy tasks, the higher-ups made a temporary decision to change the originally planned land transportation of five thousand officers and soldiers to aerial conveyance, mobilizing planes for twenty-seven sorties in total. This troop airdrop is the rescue operation with the most sorties, the most personnel, and the most carried living supplies and earthquake-resistant equipment in the history of the Chinese army.