Malaysia’s SMART Team begins HADR mission in Nepal

Malaysia's Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (SMART) MAS-01 has arrived in Nepal to begin a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief mission. According to the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma), the team landed safely at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu at noon local time on September 5. They completed arrival procedures and mission protocols, including logistics clearance and verification of the personnel manifest, by 4:30 pm local time.

The team, consisting of 11 personnel, departed from the Subang Air Base on a Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) A400M aircraft. They are now en route to the Malaysian Embassy in Kathmandu for a briefing on the current situation. Further coordination will be carried out with the Embassy and local emergency management agencies to determine the team's deployment arrangements.

Nadma confirmed that all team members are in good health, with no issues reported as of the latest update. Daily mission reports will be coordinated between Nadma and the Malaysian Embassy in Nepal for the duration of the operation. The deployment follows flash floods and landslides along the Nepal-China border that left dozens of Malaysians unreachable, with Malaysia having sought Nepal's permission to deploy the team.

Brief written by urgent.news from The Vibes, Malay Mail, New Straits Times, Bernama — 4 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.