TORONTO — Truck driver John Gilson and dispatcher/driver Najib Iqbal of J.D. Smith and Sons braved tough winter road conditions as they hauled a sea container to various locations in the GTA where it was loaded with donated hospital supplies destined for Cambodia.

The supplies will be used by a team of Toronto paramedics who are flying to Cambodia in the New Year to volunteer their time to deliver medical aid to people in the war ravaged region, the Ontario Trucking Association reports. The Southeast Asian nation has been trying to recover from years of civil war and a genocide that killed nearly a million civilians.

To carry out the job, J.D. Smith and Sons — owned by OTA Chairman Scott Smith — donated the staff and tractor while All-Ontario Transport provided the trailer chassis to move around the 40-foot long sea container.

This year’s team will be traveling to Cambodia in January 2006. Mission highlights include training local rescuers, training land mine clearance personnel as paramedics, delivering a low intensity laser light machine to help treat landmine victims, donating $150,000 in medical equipment, building a school, and donating text books and computers to local schools.

The Ontario Trucking Association arranged for J.D. Smith and Sons to provide transportation services to offset the mission’s transportation costs. The carrier will be working alongside Toronto rescuers in collecting aid from around the GTA to load the container.