South Africa rescue, medical teams arrive in Turkiye to help earthquake victims

South African search and rescue experts, as well as medical teams, arrived in Turkiye on Wednesday to help victims of Monday’s deadly quakes in which over 9,000 people have, so far, died, a humanitarian organization said, Anadolu News Agency reports.

“Gift of the Givers teams landed this morning in Turkiye … the Turkish government and their agency, AFAD, Turkish Airlines, police, and people at the airport received us with open arms,” Dr. Imtiaz Sooliman, head of the South Africa-based humanitarian organization, told Anadolu via telephone.

Sooliman said Turkish officials set up a dedicated flight for them and their equipment to fly to Adana, where they will land and later travel to the earthquake zone.

The South African team includes 27 search and rescue team members, and 20 medical personnel to treat trauma.

“Tonight, we are busy running against time to send six other searches and rescue personnel to Turkiye,” Sooliman said.

He added that the South African Police Service has also agreed to send five sniffer dogs and their handlers to Turkiye. “Dogs make a huge impact in search and rescue, and help in finding where people are buried,” he said.

The 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude Kahramanmaras-centred earthquakes affected nine other provinces — Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye and Sanliurfa — inflicting widespread damage. Regional countries, including Lebanon and Syria, also felt the tremors.