An international search and rescue team left the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv to help the victims of the earthquake in the Republic of Turkey.

The team includes 58 rescuers and firefighters from all over the country and 20 units of specialized rescue equipment.

16 are the firefighters from the Plovdiv fire service, included in an operational group to help their colleagues in Turkey. They are trained to work in the aftermath of earthquakes and are fully equipped to do so, including searching for people under the debris of collapsed buildings.

The team formed by Bulgaria will travel 1,600 kilometers and will stay there as long as it is needed, said Chief Inspector Dimitar Brishimov.

Yesterday, the two Air Force Spartan planes took off from the airport in Sofia’s “Vrazhdebna” district with aid to Turkey.

The EU is sending 10 teams for search and rescue in urban conditions. They were mobilized from Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, Greece, the Netherlands, Poland and Romania. This was stated in a joint statement by the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy and Security, Josep Borrell, and the European Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarcic. Italy and Hungary have also fielded teams.

More than 4,300 people have died in Syria and Turkey as a result of the devastating earthquakes near the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep, according to the latest figures. Eleven thousand injured, destruction and damage to buildings were also reported. There are Syrian refugee camps in the area of the first earthquake in Kahramanmaras district.

The 7.8-magnitude earthquake at a depth of about 18 km shook southeastern Turkey, near the border with Syria, yesterday morning while people were still sleeping. The earthquake was felt by millions of people in Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus and Israel.

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