A National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team comprising 47 members including dog squad members Rambo and Honey returned to India. The team had spent 10 days conducting a rescue operation in Turkey where a devastating earthquake had killed over 5,000 people in the region.
India had earlier sent to Turkey relief materials, a mobile hospital and specialised search and rescue teams in four C-17 Globemaster military transport aircraft to support the country's rescue efforts. The country also sent six tonnes of relief materials, including life saving medicines and medical items, in a transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) to Syria which was also hit by the earthquake.
Rambo who is just over four years old and Honey who is seven years old, among other two dog squad members, have played a key role in past rescue operations as well, a report by The Print said.
Meanwhile, the Turkish disaster management agency has updated the death toll from the powerful earthquake in Turkey to 38,044, raising the overall number of fatalities in both Turkey and Syria to 41,732. The death toll is likely to increase further as search teams retrieve more bodies amid the devastation. The powerful 7.8 earthquake has become Turkey's deadliest disaster in modern history.
(With inputs from AP)
