French helicopter carrier Jeanne d' Arc ensuring its relief mission in the tsunami-hit Indonesia since mid-January will end its operations and quit the region in mid- February, the French Defense Ministry said in Paris on Thursday.
Jeanne d'Arc would be replaced by La Marne, a commanding and supply ship that has a 200-strong crew and also has a helicopter pad, the defense ministry's spokesman Jean-Francois Bureau said.
France counts 1,300 military staff to take part in the aid mission in Asia after the Dec. 26 tsunamis, triggered by a series of huge undersea earthquakes near the Indonesian island of Sumatra, sweeping across the coastal countries of the Indian Ocean rim, flooding villages and cities and killing more than 283,000 people in the region.