Overview
- An RAF A400M mission, which unfolded Saturday, dropped six paratroopers with an RAF doctor and an Army nurse onto Tristan da Cunha to support a suspected hantavirus case.
- The team delivered oxygen and medical supplies as the island’s stocks ran low, a pressing need because the patient was on oxygen and the territory has no airstrip.
- The aircraft flew from RAF Brize Norton to Ascension Island and then to Tristan with midair refuelling by an RAF Voyager in a long-range, multi-stage operation.
- Officials said all jumpers landed safely and began support on the ground, while separate measures sent specialist staff to St Helena and placed 20 UK evacuees from MV Hondius into a 45‑day isolation.
- UK authorities described this as the first ad‑hoc parachute insertion of medical personnel for humanitarian aid, a capability that matters for Tristan’s 221 residents and other remote outposts accessible only by ship.