Turkish Red Crescent relief ship off to Somalia

A humanitarian aid ship of the Turkish Red Crescent carrying food and construction materials was set to depart on Wednesday for Somalia as part of Turkey's drive to contribute to the African nation's efforts to fight starvation and to reconstruct their country.   The aid vessel is loaded with concrete plant and paving stone factory supplies, relief supply kits, sugar, flour, and it is set to leave the Derince Harbor in the northwestern province of Kocaeli in the evening. "We want to make Somalia a more livable country. Within this context, we have loaded about 11 thousand tons of supplies," said Utku Calim, Turkish Red Crescent's chief official in charge of international programs. Calim said that the ship was expected to reach the Mogadishu Harbor in 15 days and it would take another 15 days to unload the supplies. He added that the relief supply kits would be distributed to 2,700 Somali families. The Turkish Red Crescent said the relief materials consisted of heavy construction equipments, canned food, five tons of sugar and five tons of flour, 2,700 relief supply kits, furniture equipments, air conditioners, garbage dumpsters, concrete plant and paving stone factory supplies, and a water pump.