{"id":48908,"date":"2014-10-17T15:58:00","date_gmt":"2014-10-17T15:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=f59bd53cc86ac238fc3d5981f32c8182"},"modified":"2014-10-17T15:58:00","modified_gmt":"2014-10-17T15:58:00","slug":"news-story-rfa-argus-deploys-to-sierra-leone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=48908","title":{"rendered":"News story: RFA Argus deploys to Sierra Leone"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p><abbr title=\"Royal Fleet Auxiliary\">RFA<\/abbr> Argus sailed from Falmouth this morning with Royal Fleet Auxiliary (<abbr title=\"Royal Fleet Auxiliary\">RFA<\/abbr>), Royal Navy personnel and Royal Marines, along with 3 Merlin helicopters, aircrew and engineers from <a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.royalnavy.mod.uk\/our-organisation\/the-fighting-arms\/fleet-air-arm\/helicopter-squadrons\/merlin-mk2\/820-naval-air-squadron\">820 Naval Air Squadron<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>On arrival <a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.royalnavy.mod.uk\/our-organisation\/the-fighting-arms\/royal-fleet-auxiliary\/casualty-ship\/rfa-argus\"><abbr title=\"Royal Fleet Auxiliary\">RFA<\/abbr> Argus<\/a> will play a vital role in transporting medical teams and equipment as well as assisting experts deployed to help tackle the Ebola epidemic. The deployment is expected to last up to 6 months.<\/p>\n<p>Defence Secretary <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/defence-secretary-visits-rfa-argus-ahead-of-ebola-mission\">Michael Fallon visited <abbr title=\"Royal Fleet Auxiliary\">RFA<\/abbr> Argus<\/a>, an aviation support ship, earlier in the week to emphasise the leading role which the UK has taken in tackling the crisis in Sierra Leone.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"image embedded\">\n<div class=\"img\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"RFA Argus leaves Falmouth \" src=\"https:\/\/assets.digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk\/government\/uploads\/system\/uploads\/image_data\/file\/31870\/CU140079007g.jpg\"><\/div><figcaption><abbr title=\"Royal Fleet Auxiliary\">RFA<\/abbr> Argus leaves Falmouth heading for Sierra Leone [Picture: Petty Officer Airman (Photographer) Paul A&#8217;Barrow, Crown copyright]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Michael Fallon said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The UK is leading the international fight against Ebola. The deployment of <abbr title=\"Royal Fleet Auxiliary\">RFA<\/abbr> Argus is absolutely key to that effort \u2013 not only to help save lives in Sierra Leone but also to help keep Britain safe from this terrible disease.<\/p>\n<p>I saw for myself when I visited Falmouth on Tuesday the deeply impressive preparations which <abbr title=\"Royal Fleet Auxiliary\">RFA<\/abbr> Argus\u2019s crew have made to tackle the wide range of demanding challenges which they will have to overcome.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">It gives me great pride to thank the crew for their outstanding work and wish them a safe voyage.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>By the end of October, defence\u2019s total contribution to tackle Ebola in Sierra Leone will amount to 750 personnel and the UK\u2019s treatment centres will provide direct medical care for up to 8,800 Ebola patients over 6 months.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"image embedded\">\n<div class=\"img\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"RFA Argus joins the fight against Ebola (infographic)\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk\/government\/uploads\/system\/uploads\/image_data\/file\/31871\/ARGUS_V3.jpeg\"><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship began her journey to Sierra Leone today as part of the UK\u2019s response to the Ebola outbreak.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48908"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48908"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48954,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48908\/revisions\/48954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}