Coronavirus: German military asked to secure transport of face masks after US initially accused of ‘piracy’
- Request for troop support came after a delivery of 200,000 face masks destined for the German capital was diverted en route from China
- German officials initially laid blame on US, one calling diversion of shipment ‘an act of modern piracy’
The Berlin city government has asked the German military for assistance in securing the transport of surgical masks and other protective medical clothing after conflicting reports about the mysterious disappearance of 200,000 face masks Berlin had bought for its police department.
A spokesman for the Bundeswehr, Germany’s armed forces, confirmed a request for the military help had been made and was being studied after Dilek Kalayci, the city’s minister for health, said on Sunday the city urgently needed its assistance in airlifting medical supplies to Germany’s largest city for the battle against the coronavirus crisis.
Another senior Berlin city government official, Interior Minister Andreas Geisel, had criticised the United States on Friday, saying that 200,000 FFP2 masks made by American firm 3M in China had been “confiscated” at Bangkok’s airport with “wild west methods”.
He said the diversion was “an act of modern piracy. This is no way to treat transatlantic partners”.
The comments were later retracted and city officials said they were investigating the disappearance of the face masks.
Similar criticism came from France where officials have accused unidentified Americans of paying higher prices to secure masks in China that had already been headed to France.
The US embassy in Paris was quoted saying any suggestion that the US government was involved in such practices was “completely false”.
