UPDATE 2 - Spain mobilizing field hospital, healthcare professionals to quake-hit Türkiye

UPDATES WITH ADDITIONAL UNITS, REVISES QUAKE CASUALTIES; UPDATES HEADLINE

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

ISTANBUL (AA) – Spain on Tuesday said that it will mobilize a field hospital and health professionals to Türkiye after two strong earthquakes jolted the southern part of the country, killing and injuring thousands.

Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares announced that the Spanish Technical Aid Response Team (START) field hospital will be mobilized to Türkiye to "attend to those injured in the earthquake."

"Professionals from the national health system will take part," Albares said on Twitter.

He added that Spain will also contribute to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies' efforts and activate emergency agreements with non-governmental organizations in Syria.

The Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, said in a statement that the START field hospital will be staffed by more than 70 people including health professionals, logisticians, and members of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation, which leads and coordinates the team's missions.

The hospital has an operating room and hospitalization capacity for 20 people, it said.

The emergency response medical team is accredited by the World Health Organization and is one of the registered capacities for emergency response of the European Civil Protection Mechanism, according to the ministry.

Another special emergency and immediate response unit called ERICAM is ready to take part in rescue operations in Türkiye, the Spanish Embassy to the country said.

Forty firefighters and a four-dog rescue team are already at Incirlik air base, the embassy said on Twitter.

"They are immediately leaving for the operations area to initiate their task," it added.

Over 3,500 people were killed and 22,000 others injured when two powerful earthquakes hit Türkiye’s southern and southeastern regions, according to the country's disaster agency.

As the earthquakes affected a wider region, at least 1,622 people were killed and hundreds injured in nearby Syria, according to figures compiled by the regime's Health Ministry and Syrian Civil Defense.