{"id":40204,"date":"2017-09-11T17:17:07","date_gmt":"2017-09-11T17:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2017\/09\/11\/french-aircraft-troops-back-hurricane-irma-relief-efforts-in-caribbean\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:13:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:13:15","slug":"french-aircraft-troops-back-hurricane-irma-relief-efforts-in-caribbean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2017\/09\/11\/french-aircraft-troops-back-hurricane-irma-relief-efforts-in-caribbean\/","title":{"rendered":"French aircraft, troops back Hurricane Irma relief efforts in Caribbean"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

PARIS \u2014 France has flown two A400M military airlifters and is sailing over the helicopter carrier Tonnerre to deliver humanitarian aid to islands in the French Caribbean, following a deadly devastation wreaked by Hurricane Irma, the Armed Forces Ministry said Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A dispatch of troops, including units of the Foreign Legion, paratroopers and paramilitary gendarmes, is part of that mobilization as armed looting has been a response to the natural disaster there, which has killed 10 people and left seven missing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Emmanuel Macron is due on Tuesday to fly to the island of St. Martin, one of the French territories hit by the hurricane, and the government has agreed to set up a parliamentary inquiry in the wake of political criticism over a lack of preparedness and operational help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An A310 transport plane and a second A400M arrived Monday \u201cwith reinforcements troops and their equipment,\u201d joining an A340 and an A400M flown over on Saturday, the ministry said in a statement. The latter carried an extra Puma helicopter.<\/p>\n\n\n\t