Serbian authorities award Russian Emergency Situations Ministry employees for helping tackle wildfires

MOSCOW. Sept 17 (Interfax) - Serbia has awarded the crew of a Russian Emergency Situations Ministry Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft for help with fighting wildfires, the Russian ministry's press service said in a statement on Thursday.

"The Il-76 crew met with the president of the International Police Association (IPA) Section Serbia Nebojsa Pantelic in Belgrade. In accordance with a decision by the IPA board he handed a gold plaquette and a gold medal to the Russian aircraft commander," the statement said.

"From the bottom of my heart I thank the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry Il-76 air crew for their selflessness, high professionalism and invaluable support in fighting wildfires in Serbia. We sincerely appreciate our Russian counterparts' readiness to promptly come to our aid and consider common threats as their own," Pantelic was quoted in the statement as saying.

The ministry employees helped Serbia fight fires from August 20. The specialists managed to put out fires in the most complicated areas and prevent the fire from spreading to residential zones. The plane performed 65 sorties and dumped 2,700 tons of water on blazes.