Romania is sending more aid to Turkey, including a new team of rescuers and medical personnel, to help rescue people affected by the earthquakes. A decision will be taken at today’s meeting of the National Committee for Emergency Situations. The project on the agenda proposes the removal of some goods from the national reserves.
This aid will be done with a transport by MApN planes. Romania also sends water and canned goods. Another rescue team, consisting of 58 people and trained search dogs, has already arrived in Turkey and managed to save two people from under the ruins of a collapsed building.
The National Inspectorate for Emergency Situations released photos of the Romanian rescuers intervening in Turkey in the city of Antakya, trying to pull out a 16-year-old boy from under the rubble on Wednesday morning. During the night they rescued a man whose leg was trapped under a concrete beam. They found two dead people in the same place.
During the night, the RO-USAR team intervened in an area in the northwestern part of the city of Antakya, and as a result of the search actions carried out, a man of about 40 years was found with a leg trapped under a concrete beam. The man was brought out alive at around 05:45 (local time).
To date, two more deceased people have been found in this location.
Coordinator of the Romanian rescuers: Never seen so much damage so far
The coordinator of the special team told, in an intervention on Digi FM, that he had not seen greater destruction in his entire career. Bogdan Vlăduțoiu, coordinator of the Romanian rescuers: “For us it is the most difficult mission, with the biggest damage we have seen so far and we are doing everything we can to help our friends in Turkey to save as many people as possible.
We managed to reach a family, mother, father and child, who were under the rubble. Around the house were all those who knew them and who insisted that we save them. We managed to extract them all. It was a very difficult operation. The child was found dead, because he was caught between his parents.”
Over 11,200 victims
The death toll from the devastating earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria has climbed over 11,200 according to official information, with tens of thousands injured.6,000 buildings collapsed.
More than 11,200 people died as a result of the earthquake that affected Turkey and Syria, writes the BBC. Turkish officials say 8,574 people have died in the country. As for Syria, although an exact figure is difficult to ascertain, the number of confirmed deaths so far is estimated at 2,662.
Quests and rescue missions are under way, but against the clock. More than 13 million people are affected in Turkey, in an area that stretches approximately 450 km from east to west and 300 km from north to south. The authorities have declared a state of calamity in 10 provinces for three months, and claim that the victims will be accommodated in hotels in Antalya. Until they get there, people struggle to survive the winter. Humanitarian tents have been set up for those who no longer have homes. Left with only the clothes on them, the people lit fires and say they ate for the first time in two days. Winter and destroyed roads make it difficult for the help they need to arrive.
MAE: 21 Romanian citizens repatriated from Turkey by military planes. Other 5 Romanians repatriated via a scheduled flight
So far, 21 Romanian citizens have been repatriated with the support of MAPN and also today a group of 5 other Romanians repatriated via a scheduled flight, with the support of the Romanian embassy in Ankara, the Minister of Foreign Affairs announced on Wednesday , Bogdan Aurescu.
Another group of 7 Romanian citizens is also in the spotlight, a group of medical students who are studying in an Erasmus program and who will be helped to repatriate, hopefully also with a MAPN aircraft.there are also 10 more Romanian citizens with 3 family members who are located in areas far from Adana or Malatya where the airports are located that can take them directly to the attention of the Romanian Embassy in Ankara. We are making efforts to help them reach these airports and are in constant contact with them.
Regarding the situation in Syria, there are no repatriation requests from Romanian citizens up to this point.