Pakistan dispatches rescue team
\nFreezing winter weather hamper search efforts; PM Shehbaz establishes relief fund for Turkiye
\n islamabad
\nOverwhelmed rescuers struggled to save people trapped under the rubble as the death toll from a devastating earthquake in Turkiye and Syria surpassed 5,200 on Tuesday, with despair mounting and the scale of the disaster hampering relief efforts.
\nAn official 51-member Pakistani rescue team was also set to touchdown in Istanbul today, federal minister Saad Rafiq said on Twitter. The Turkish city of Antakya near the Syrian border, where 10-storey buildings had crumbled onto the streets, Reuters journalists saw rescue work being conducted on one out of dozens of mounds of rubble.
\nThe temperature was close to freezing as the rain came down and there was no electricity or fuel in the city. In Turkiye, the death toll climbed to 3,481 people, Turkiye\u2019s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said.
\nThe death toll in Syria, already devastated by more than 11 years of war, stands at more than 1,600, according to the Syrian government and a rescue service in the insurgent-held northwest.
\nFirst batch of relief items arrive in Turkiye
\nOn Tuesday morning, the first batch of relief items from Pakistan reached Turkiye, a Pakistan Air Force spokesperson said.
\n\u201cPakistan Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft carrying members of search and rescue teams and blankets from PAF Base, Nur Khan has landed in Turkiye,\u201d he said in a statement.
\nThe PAF aircraft is carrying relief goods from people of Pakistan for the earthquake affected brethren of Turkiye, the spokesperson added.
\nEarlier, the Pakistan Army\u2019s media wing said that two contingents; urban search and rescue team \u2014 comprising rescue experts, sniffer dogs, search equipment and a Medical team comprising army doctors, nursing staff and technicians along with 30 bedded mobile hospital, tentage, blankets \u2014 and other relief items had been dispatched to Turkiye.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pakistan dispatches rescue team Freezing winter weather hamper search efforts; PM Shehbaz establishes relief fund for Turkiye islamabad Overwhelmed rescuers struggled to save people trapped under the rubble as the death toll from a devastating earthquake in Turkiye and Syria surpassed 5,200 on Tuesday, with despair mounting and the scale of the disaster hampering relief […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312287,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-312349","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n