Four helicopters supplied by the United States, from the Panama Canal, quickly began rescue missions. They airlifted survivors from flood waters and placed them on elevated land areas. The crew members reported that the people were desperate to get on the helicopters and during one mission, 34 people crowded on to one of the aircraft, which has a normal capacity of 15. Food packages dropped to survivors were fought over, some people reportedly fighting each other with machetes for the supplies. During several of the later rescue missions, people died from starvation and malnutrition on board the helicopters. From nearby Belize, Britain deployed 57 soldiers with motorboats to rush food to survivors in flooded regions. A group of 41 Cuban medical experts, including 21 doctors, treated nearly 900 in a period of two days.