A planeload of German victims of last week's devastating tsunami were airlifted home Sunday while a German military plane stood by to deliver a field hospital to hard-hit Aceh Province in Indonesia. A MedEvac flying clinic landed at Bonn-Cologne airport Sunday with 38 badly injured German nationals aboard. They were tourists on Christmas holidays at Thailand's Phuket resort when the quake-spawned tidal wave hit last Sunday. It was the second planeload of German disaster victims to arrive. On Friday the MedEvac plane ferried 49 injured persons home to Germany. Meanwhile the Bundeswehr armed forces medical service drew up plans to set up a field hospital in Aceh province to treat Indonesians injured by the tsunami or caught up by the spread of diseases since. Up to 100 personnel are on stand-by to fly to Indonesia, but the size and form of the medical station will not be decided until an advance party of eight have reached the Aceh region and determined what is needed. The number of beds and how many operating theatres to set up will be decided by the advance party. The unit also hopes to improve hygiene conditions to stop the spread of disease.
