All the soldiers of the Qinghae Unit 34th class Munmu the Great (4,400 tons), where an unprecedented group infection of Corona 19 occurred, will arrive at Seoul Airport in Seongnam on the afternoon of the 20th.
Yesterday, the soldiers boarded two air force multi-purpose aerial refueling transport aircraft (KC-330) at the airport of a neighboring country in the African waters where the ship is anchored and went home.
Prevention and quarantine of infectious diseases, including installation of bulkheads, were completed inside the transport plane, and all 16 people who were hospitalized in the local hospital also boarded the transport plane.
When soldiers arrive at Seoul Airport in Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do, they are distributed to civilian and defense language institute living treatment centers.
Soldiers in need of hospitalization, including 16 who were treated at local hospitals, are admitted to military hospitals.
The Ministry of National Defense explained that it plans to conduct a gene amplification (PCR) test on all soldiers and manage them separately according to the results.
Earlier, the Ministry of National Defense dispatched a 200-person special task force headed by Lee Kyung-gu, deputy chief of international policy at the Ministry of National Defense to Africa on the 18th, and completed the takeover of the Munmu the Great.
It was composed only of personnel who had tested negative in the PCR test before departure and had completed vaccinations, but all worked in protective clothing, masks, and protective glasses.
Among the special missions, 148 members of the Navy are expected to return to Korea aboard the Munmu the Great, and it is expected that it will take about 50 days at normal cruising speed.
The distance from Busan to the area where the Munmu the Great is located is about 24,000 km.
A total of 247 (82.1%) of the 301 crew members of the Cheonghae Unit 34 have been confirmed so far.
Among the confirmed cases, the captain and deputy commander of the ship Munmu the Great were also included, and it was reported that 19 out of 30 officers were infected.
The remaining 50 were reported as negative, and 4 as 'undeterminable'.
However, considering that each person has a different incubation period for COVID-19, all crew members are unvaccinated, and they have been living in the trap of a 'three-mil' environment vulnerable to infectious diseases, additional confirmed cases among negative and non-determinable personnel It is highly likely to come out.
The Navy announced that it will operate a dedicated support team consisting of personnel, logistics, medical, public information, and quarantine countermeasures divisions as the Cheonghae Unit returns to Korea early.
(Photo = provided by the Ministry of Defense, Yonhap News)