(AP) — Aid supplies were rushed in to the center of Congo's outbreak of a rare type of Ebola virus as beleaguered medical workers have struggled with a lack of equipment, a distrustful population and armed groups in a volatile region.

A white cargo plane on Thursday morning delivered masks, gloves, boots, and medications — all of which are in short supply — donated by the European Union to Bunia, a northeastern town at the heart of the outbreak. United Nations-branded forklifts lifted several cases into trucks.

In Bunia, Associated Press reporters saw empty emergency treatment centres, and doctors in the nearby town of Bambu using expired medical masks while tending to suspected Ebola patients.