A crew of 21 medical volunteers from Macao on Tuesday flew to quake-stricken Sichuan Province, southwest China on board a charter flight.

This is the second medical team ever dispatched to Sichuan by the Macao Special Administrative Region Government (SAR).

The flight, along with tons of medical supplies, will arrive at Chengdu's airport Tuesday afternoon, and the team of 11 doctors and 10 nurses will later be transferred to Nanchong, a city severely damaged in the disaster in the province, said Lee Chin Yuen, director of the SAR's Health Bureau, at the Macao International Airport.

According to the Bureau, some 500 local doctors and nurses volunteered to join the team, but only those with relevant professional backgrounds and experiences were selected to participate in the relief task.

Previously, the city has sent its first medical team to assist works at a Chengdu Hospital. They stayed there for 11 days.

(Xinhua News Agency June 10, 2008)