TALLINN, Sep 06, BNS - Five Estonian explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) specialists departed for Georgia on a humanitarian mission Saturday to help locate and disarm unexploded explosive devices in the conflict areas.
The team led by Margus Kurvits, chief of the EOD center at the Estonian Rescue Board, is flying to Georgia via Prague, a spokesperson for the Rescue Board said. The exact area where the Estonians will work will become known once they've arrived in Georgia.
"In principle they will be doing the same what they do in Estonia, that is, searching for and rendering harmless explosive devices left behind from the war," spokesperson Beata Perens told BNS.
Under current plans the team will stay in Georgia for three weeks.
The mission organized in collaboration with the Estonian Foreign Ministry costs about 300,000 kroons (EUR 19,200), which will be taken from the ten million kroons earmarked by the government as aid for Georgia in mid-August.
Estonia so far has used the money to finance two shipments of humanitarian aid to Georgia and has made a transfer in the amount of one million kroons to UNICEF as assistance for South Ossetian children.
Estonia is also providing expert assistance to Georgia.
An Estonian crisis counselor started working at the UNICEF office in Tbilisi last week, providing advice to social workers, teachers and other people working with children from the conflict area. Three more Estonian experts in the same field will depart for Georgia soon.
Tallinn newsroom, +372 610 8862, sise@bns.ee
