The French aircraft carrier FS CHARLES DE GAULLE R 91 registered 50 cases of novel coronavirus among the crew, the armed forces ministry said on Friday 10th April. Three sailors had been evacuated from the vessel to a military hospital in the Mediterranean port of Toulon as a “precaution”. However, none of the crew who tested positive for Covid-19 and remained on board have suffered “worsening health” so far, the ministry added in a statement.
The defence ministry announced on Wednesday 8th April that France’s aircraft carrier would be brought home early from a deployment in the Atlantic and recently been taking part in exercises with northern European navies in the Baltic Sea after some crew members showed virus symptoms. Those with symptoms had been placed in isolation, but none had signs of serious illness, it said.She was due back on April 23rd.
The carrier set sail for the eastern Mediterranean last January 21st to support French military operations against Islamist militants in Iraq and Syria, before deploying to the Atlantic and then the Baltic with 1,760 compliment aboard.
Photos goes back to Gosport, UK in 2005.
Photos by Capt. Lawrence Dalli. Do not use these images without my permission. © All rights reserved. Malta Ship Photos & Action Photos – www.maltashipphotos.com
Published – Friday 10th April, 2020
