The Minister of Internal Affairs, Vakhtang Gomelauri, is in Racha, Oni municipality for the second day. Vakhtang Gomelauri is getting informed regarding the ongoing works in the disaster zone in details and is observing the search activities on-site.
The Minister of Internal Affairs alongside with his Deputy Minister, Ioseb Chelidze, held another working meeting at the field headquarters established on site, where he was informed regarding the current situation from the head of the Emergency Situations Management Service, Temur Mghebrishvili.
The Minister of Internal Affairs provided media with information regarding the questions posed and noted that 26% of the territory remains to be inspected.
"We held a meeting, new directions were planned. There is 26% of territory left in the epicenter, which needs to be searched. The news is that one car was found, there was no one inside, it was empty. As we know, the owners are missing and we are looking for these people. Once this operation is finished, further work will be planned to change and inspect the river bed. This will be announced in details later and a statement will be made" - noted Vakhtang Gomelauri.
The Minister of Internal Affairs once again explained to the media why the decision to involve helicopters in the rescue work was not made on the night of the disaster in Oni municipality.
“I want people to understand, not those who made meaningless statements yesterday. A helicopter arrived during the day, there was a flight, and people who were stuck on the island in the middle, were extracted. Along with this, 5-6 thermal drones which can observe much better, were operating. These are high modern technology drones, thermal imaging is very important. They worked at high and low altitudes. I’m posing a question, would it have been better to work, even at night, from a helicopter or with night vision and thermal drones? The entire area was searched in daylight, there were no injured people to be rescued that we could’ve left. Even if the helicopter had not been able to operate, rescuers would have undoubtedly gone in and saved anyone injured or trapped. Thanks once again to these people. Those who came out and made statements, will not understand even today I am certain, they will come out and repeat the same thing today. I explain to people in this case to help them understand. I repeat once again, before the night fell, the helicopters worked 2 hours earlier, they rescued people, 140 people were safe and our policemen and rescuers were with them, they brought food and water, and there was no need for us to take the risk of taking the children to the helicopter at night" - noted Vakhtang Gomelauri.
Temur Mghebrishvili, the head of the Emergency Situations Management Service, also commented to the media and noted that search operations are progressing intensively. According to him, they are making best effort within human and equipment capabilities.
“Rescue works are intensively progressing. Yesterday, an unrgent meeting was held until late night by the Minister. The meeting continued in the morning, where we made a decision on which specific works to focus on. Search works continue in 18 divided sectors, today a Hyundai car was detected in the epicenter, in which, according to our information, three people were present, and currently works are being carried out at specific locations. The main part of the epicenter of the disaster has been processed and there is approximately 25-26% remaining which we think we will cover completely within 2 days. After that, we have ideas based on the analysis and will report back to you later. Under no circumstances does the work stop. Today there will be another meeting with the Minister. As yesterday and today, there are some nuances that we will report to the Minister at the end of the day and will plan in the direction of a certain strategy, which we will inform you later. Until there is even a small chance, a theoretical small chance, we are here, working and making our best effort within human and equipment’s capabilities. There is no need to increase live force. If the need arises, of course we are ready, we are coming to the end now and therefore I don't think there will be a need for it. We will need a maximum of 2 days to explore the remaining part, although it depends if the river allows us to do so," - noted Temur Mghebrishvili.
