China sends rescue team to earthquake-hit Türkiye

A search and rescue team sent by the Chinese government to aid earthquake-hit Türkiye set off from Beijing Capital International Airport on Tuesday afternoon. (People’s Daily Online/Zhong Wenxing)

An 82-member search and rescue team, dispatched by the Chinese government, with rescue equipment and relief materials,headed for earthquake-hit Türkiye on Tuesday afternoon.

The team was mainly composed of personnel from the Beijing fire and rescue corps, the National Earthquake Response Support Service and the Emergency General Hosptial.

More than 4,000 people were killed and tens of thousands injured after strong earthquakes jolted parts of Türkiye and neighboring Syria on Monday. A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck Türkiye's southern province of Kahramanmaras at 4:17 a.m. local time (0117 GMT), followed by a magnitude 6.4 quake a few minutes later in the country's southern province of Gaziantep and a magnitude 7.6 earthquake at 1:24 p.m. local time (1024 GMT) in Kahramanmaras.