Third NDRF team from India to leave for earthquake hit Turkey

NEW DELHI: India is rushing a fresh team of National Disaster Response Force along with other necessary equipment to Turkey where over 5,000 people have been killed in a huge earthquake on Monday. Two teams are already on ground in Turkey and have launched rescue operations at multiple collapsed structures, the NDRF Director General Atul Karwal said today.

The third team has already been airlifted from Varanasi to Delhi and the rescuers are expected to leave for the disaster-struck nation by tonight on board an IAF plane, he said. "The team consisting of 51 rescuers and a specially trained Dog squad will depart to Turkey on reaching National Capital," the NDRF DG said earlier.

India has extended humanitarian support to Turkey which was hit by powerful earthquake on Monday. An Indian Air Force C17 flight with over 50 personnel from the NDRF and a specially trained dog squad along with necessary equipment, including medical supplies, drilling machines and other equipment required for the aid efforts departed for Turkey on Tuesday. The specially trained Labrador breed dog squad, which is an expert in sniffing and other key skills during rescue operations in disaster-hit regions, left India on Tuesday for Turkey with two separate teams of NDRF-- a 51-member team which arrived there in the morning and another 50-member team which reached by the evening.

NDRF Director General Atul Karwal told ANI that the dog squad of the force and the 101 team members are self-contained in all respect and are equipped with all the necessary state-of-the-art search and rescue, and personal safety equipment. The NDRF team will assist the local authorities of Turkey in relief and rescue operations as per the need, said the officer.

Two teams consisting of 101 personnel of NDRF along with specially trained dog squads and all the necessary equipment were sent to Turkey by special Indian Air Force flights. A massive earthquake of 7.8 magnitude on the Richter Scale, ripped through Turkey and Syria on February 6, followed by a series of aftershocks that caused huge devastation, loss of lives and damage to infrastructure in both countries and according to latest estimates nearly 10,000 people have lost their lives in both countries.