Cape Town - The humanitarian organisation Gift of the Givers has wrapped up their rescue missions in quake-hit Turkiye and are expected to arrive in Cape Town and Johannesburg on Saturday.
This comes after the teams had arrived in Turkiye last Wednesday to assist following the 7.8 magnitude earthquake.
The death toll in both Turkiye and Syria is now over 40 000, while scores of bodies are still missing and yet to be found.
Gift of the Givers’ chairman and founder Dr Imitiaz Sooliman said that one of the greatest moments was when the organisation’s rescue teams pulled out an 80-year-old from the rubble eight days after being trapped.
Sooliman heaped praise on the K9 search and rescue team, including the Omani rescue teams from other countries such as China, deployed in rescuing victims in Turkiye.
“It was a very emotional time for the teams and wherever they go people call them and inform them where to look for missing bodies and human souls.”
“These teams worked very well together despite seeing the pain written on people who lost their loved ones, that’s what motivated our teams to work harder,” he said.
Sooliman said that despite the large number of rescue operations that were made by the team, there are places where the rescue teams could not reach because the city was too big.
He further confirmed that the team of highly-skilled volunteers, will be making its way back toward Istanbul, and was invited to stop in Ankara to meet the SA ambassador.
IOL