MAF resumes relief flights

JAYAPURA, Irian Jaya: The Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF), an airline owned by missionaries, has resumed flights to rural areas in the province after receiving 300 drums of fuel from the local office of the state-owned oil company, Pertamina.

Spokesman Samuel Basary said food relief operations could resume to areas badly hit by drought and food shortages.

The MAF had suspended flights to a number of destinations due to a lack of fuel, Basary was quoted by Antara as saying.

MAF operates 12 Cessnas, 3 Caravans and 2 helicopters to ply routes to rural areas in Irian Jaya. The organization needs eight drums of fuel a day, an amount which Pertamina has promised to supply, Basary said.