Dutch Navy to Deliver Navy Divers, Aid to Haiti

Dutch Navy ship HNLMS Pelikaan (A 804) arrived at Guantanamo Bay (GTMO) Naval Station Jan. 22 to on load relief supplies and Navy divers from Mobile Dive and Salvage Unit 2 (MDSU 2) to assist with humanitarian assistance operations in Haiti.

Pelikaan, a logistics support vessel homeported in the Dutch Antilles island of Curacao, departed GTMO immediately after embarking the divers and was expected to arrive in Haiti Jan. 23. MDSU 2 divers are being called upon to provide critical underwater clearance operations in and around Port-Au-Prince to allow port access for the seaborne delivery of relief supplies.

Many port and pier facilities were badly damaged in the Jan. 12 earthquake, and relief supplies have been arriving primarily through Port-Au-Prince airport and from Navy amphibious and air assets off shore.

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