UAE flies in injured Socotra residents for treatment

Seventeen Yemenis injured during Cyclone Mekunu will receive treatment in UAE hospitals

People search among the wreckage of a boat destroyed by Cyclone Mekunu on Yemen's Socotra Island after the storm passed over on May 25, 2018. Reuters

Seventeen Socotra residents who were injured when Cyclone Mekunu battered the island last week have been flown to the UAE for treatment.

The injured were transferred to UAE hospitals by the Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation as part of the Emirates' efforts to support the Yemeni people, the state news agency Wam reported.

The transfers were made on the directives of the President Sheikh Khalifa and Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs and Chairman of the Khalifa Foundation.

The UAE has been leading the relief efforts on Socotra in the wake of the cyclone, which caused widespread flooding and damaged homes and infrastructure on the island when it struck on Thursday with winds of more than 150kph.

An aid plane carrying 40 tonnes of humanitarian and food aid provided by the Khalifa Foundation landed on the Socotra archipelago on Friday.

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UAE aid workers from the Khalifa Foundation and the Emirates Red Crescent immediately began distributing the relief, which is desperately needed in the most damaged and hard to reach coastal areas and surrounding valleys, especially Galancia, Wam said.

The UAE was among the first responders to assist Socotra residents after the cyclone, rescuing those trapped in remote areas and providing them with food and shelter.

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Debris and sea foam litters a beach during Cyclone Mekunu in Salalah, Oman, May 26, 2018. Cyclone Mekunu blew into the Arabian Peninsula early Saturday, drenching arid Oman and Yemen with rain, cutting off power lines, officials said. Kamran Jebreili / AP Photo