South African rescue, medical teams arrive in Türkiye to help earthquake victims

By Hassan Isilow

JOHANNESBURG (AA) - South African search and rescue experts, as well as medical teams arrived in Türkiye on Wednesday to help victims of Monday’s deadly quakes in which over 9,000 people have so far died, a humanitarian organization said.

“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 search 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-centered 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.