On Sept. 29, two China Eastern planes took off from Shanghai to pick up 478 Chinese who were rescued from a devastating hurricane in Dominica and later transferred to a neighboring country, Chinanews.com reported.

The emergency transport mission was guided by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Commerce, and Civil Aviation Administration of China. The planes set off in less than 24 hours after receiving the task.

The two wide-body planes, equipped with 64 crew members, will fly over 19 countries with a round distance of 34,000 kilometers. They are the first Chinese planes to land at the airport in Antigua and Barbuda.

Category 5 Hurricane Maria hit the island country Dominica on the evening of Sept. 18, causing severe damage.

By Sept. 28, a total of 487 Chinese trapped by the hurricane had been transferred in two batches to the neighboring country Antigua and Barbuda.

China’s embassy in Antigua and Barbuda, along with overseas Chinese companies and members of the local Chinese community, as well as both governments, overcame a number of hurdles to complete the relocation.

Ge Jianping, a manager of an aid project in Dominica and who has worked in the country for 14 years, said the danger and fear caused by the hurricane was unprecedented.

“I didn’t feel safe until I saw a banner that read ‘we will bring you home’ and saw rescuers from our motherland,” Ge recalled, the moment when he and 300 other trapped Chinese were transferred to Antigua and Barbuda.