MSCOW, February 14. /TASS/. Russian rescuers have returned home after wrapping up their search and rescue operations in earthquake-stricken Syria, the Russian emergencies ministry said on Tuesday.
"The Russian emergencies ministry’s team finished the international rescue operation in Syria. A Russian emergencies ministry Il-76 plane with the rescuers aboard has landed at Moscow’s Zhukovsky airport. The team included more than 50 people, including three canine units," it said, adding that the team of rescuers from Turkey will arrive later.
Russian Emergencies Minister Alexander Kurenkov said earlier in the day that Russian rescuers were wrapping up their reach and rescue efforts in quake-hit Turkey and Syria.
Kurenkov noted that Russia had turned out to be one of the first countries that came to the aid of the quake-hit population of Turkey and Syria. The minister recalled that a combined group of rescuers was sent to the disaster zone on the instructions of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The rescuers arrived in Turkey and Syria on February 6. They began to remove the rubble and search for victims in the most difficult areas.
Two powerful 7.7-magnitude and 7.6-magnitude earthquakes rocked Turkey’s Kahramanmaras province, located in the country’s southeast, on February 6. The tremors, followed by hundreds of aftershocks, were felt in ten provinces as well as in neighboring countries, including Syria. According to the Syrian health ministry, the death toll from the quake on government-controlled territories has climbed to 1,414. As many as 2,349 people were injured and taken to hospitals. In Turkey, the quakes claimed more than 32,000 lives and more than 80,000 people were injured.