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The main SCDF Operation Lion Heart contingent comprising 41 personnel and 3 search dogs returned from Central Java on Monday, 5 June 2006. The remaining 11-member SCDF medical team and 2 info-communications specialists attached to the UN Reception Centre at Adisutjipto Airport will touch down this evening at the Paya Lebar Airbase. This marks an end to the SCDF Operation Lion Heart deployment for the Central Java earthquake that struck on Saturday, 27 May 2006.

The Singapore team was deployed to Bantul, 40 km south of Yogyakarta in Central Java on 28 May to render humanitarian assistance to the local authorities. Two days later, the SCDF had also sent a senior officer to Yogyakarta as part of the United Nations Disaster Assessment & Coordination (UNDAC) team to assist in coordinating international relief operations in the disaster-hit areas.

During the 10-day deployment in Bantul, the SCDF contingent worked closely with the SAF, the Indonesian military (TNI) as well as the UN On-Site Operations Command Centre. The mainstay of the Singapore team"s efforts was in the provision of search and rescue operations and medical assistance at the district hospital, field medical station and areas which the mobile medical personnel have visited. In total, more than 520 casualties were treated by the SCDF contingent during their operations in Yogyakarta.

The 13 SCDF contingent members will arrive in Singapore this evening together with the SAF medical team at the Paya Lebar Airbase.