Azerbaijan sends more help to Türkiye after powerful quakes

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Azerbaijan is sending two planes carrying assistance personnel, materials, and a field hospital to Türkiye through Adana, one of the 10 provinces hit by two powerful earthquakes in country's south on Monday.

"The plane that will deliver the mobile field hospital and 41 professional medical and non-medical personnel to the brotherly country has left Heydar Aliyev International Airport for Adana," a statement by the Azerbaijani Emergency Situations Ministry said on Tuesday.

A later statement said that the second plane departed from Baku carrying tents, blankets, and heaters to help those injured in the earthquakes, as well as three containers with a mobile field hospital.

The ministry also announced that its personnel in Türkiye had begun supporting search and rescue operations in Kahramanmaras province, the epicenter of both quakes.

On Monday, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in a phone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that a rescue team of 420 people was being sent to the country and would start working with Turkish authorities as soon as they arrived.

At least 3,549 people have been killed and 22,168 others injured in 10 provinces of Türkiye after the earthquakes jolted the southern part of the country.

Early Monday morning, a 7.7 magnitude tremor struck the Pazarcik district of Kahramanmaras province, then about nine hours later, a 7.6 magnitude quake centered in the nearby Elbistan district rocked the region again, affecting several other provinces, including Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa.

The earthquake was also felt in several countries in the region, including Lebanon and Syria.