BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 8. Another group of the Azerbaijani rapid reaction forces of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Emergency Situations is returning from Türkiye, after conducting search and rescue operations and partaking in the elimination of the earthquake implications in the fraternal country, Trend reports.
The aircraft with Azerbaijani rescuers has taken off from Adana to Baku.
The rescuers at the Adana airport were seen off by the head of the Imamoglu district Mehmet Aksu, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ayse Sarac, representative of the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD) Cumhur Ozkaptan, as well as media and public representatives.
The Turkish officials highly appreciated the work of rescuers of the rapid response forces of the Ministry of Emergency Situations in the disaster zone, noted their high professionalism and great dedication in rescuing people affected by the devastating earthquake, providing them with medical and psychological assistance.
Besides, the officials thanked the Azerbaijani state and people for their support.
Earlier, two rescue teams from the Ministry of Emergency Situations returned to Azerbaijan.
A 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit southeastern con Feb. 6, 2023. The earthquake occurred at a depth of seven kilometers in the Pazarcik region of Kahramanmaras Province. The provinces of Hatay, Gaziantep, Kilis, Osmaniye, Malatya, Adiyaman, Sanliurfa, Diyarbakir, Adana, and Kahramanmaras were subjected to severe destruction.
As a result of the earthquake that hit Türkiye, strong tremors were also felt in Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, and Cyprus. Since then, Türkiye has been suffering from earthquakes and aftershocks up until now.
Following the instructions of President Ilham Aliyev, the rapid reaction forces of Azerbaijan, consisting of 420 people, were sent to Türkiye on the same day that the earthquake occurred.
On Feb. 8, another group of rescuers including 227 more people went to the fraternal country.
