Romanian authorities decided to send a second RO-USAR team to Turkey to help with the search and rescue of survivors of the earthquakes that killed thousands of people in Turkey and neighboring Syria. The specialized rescue team will be accompanied by two doctors and two nurses, and four canine teams.

According to the same decision of the National Committee for Emergency Situations, the Ministry of Defense (MApN) has been authorized to ensure the transport of rescue teams and equipment from other states that provide support to Turkey, Biziday.ro reported.

The first RO-USAR team left for Turkey on Monday, February 6, and was sent to the province of Hatay, in a locality close to the city of Antakya. In their first mission, they found and recovered a family of three (husband, wife and child) from under the rubble. According to information from the Department of Emergency Situations, the parents were rescued alive, but their 10-month child did not survive.

Last night, the RO-USAR team was assigned a new intervention area in the North-West part of Antakya. There, the Romanian rescuers managed to save a 40-year-old man with a leg stuck under a concrete beam. At the time this story was published, they were working to save a 16-year-old from a collapsed building.

A massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Turkey and neighboring Syria early Monday morning, followed by an almost equally powerful quake hours later. Thousands of people were killed, and the death toll keeps climbing by the hour, despite the rescuers’ efforts, as thousands of buildings collapsed.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Facebook/Departamentul pentru Situatii de Urgenta)