Third US ship due in Black Sea next week

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

WASHINGTON (AFP) — A third US ship carrying humanitarian aid was due to arrive in Georgia next week, while two others that unloaded their aid in Batumi remain in the Black Sea, the Pentagon said Thursday.

The USS Mount Whitney, flagship of the US 6th Fleet, "is going to swing by in Suda Bay (Crete) and pick up humanitarian supplies and will probably not arrive before some time next week," said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman, without naming where the ship is to dock.

"The Dallas (a US Coast Guard ship) has completed its offloading of humanitarian relief supplies in Batumi and has departed Batumi", Whitman added.

While 34 tonnes of supplies were unloaded Wednesday, "to date, 947 tonnes of humanitarian assistance (have been) sent to Georgia by the US," he...