NEW DELHI, Feb 8: One Indian who had gone to Turkey on a work visit is “missing” while 10 other Indians are stuck in some earthquake-hit remote corners of the country but are safe, the government said on Wednesday. There are about 3,000 Indians in Turkey.
The Foreign Ministry said, “We set up a control room in Turkey’s Adana. 10 Indians are stuck in remote parts of affected areas but they are safe. One Indian national who was on a business visit is missing. We’re in touch with his family and the company in Bengaluru which employs him,” said Secretary, West, Sanjay Verma.
India is providing material, medical supplies and equipment to Syria as well as sending search and rescue teams to Turkey under ‘Operation Dost’, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said earlier on Wednesday. “Under #OperationDost, India is sending search and rescue teams, a field hospital, materials, medicines and equipment to Turkiye and Syria. This is an ongoing operation and we would be posting updates,” Mr Jaishankar tweeted.
Searchers were still pulling survivors even as the window for rescues narrowed. For two days and nights since the 7.8 magnitude quake, thousands of searchers have worked in freezing temperatures to find those still alive under flattened buildings on either side of the border.
Turkish Red Crescent chief Kerem Kinik had warned that the first 72 hours were critical in search and rescue efforts but pointed to complications of “severe weather conditions.” Emergency workers on Wednesday saved some children found under a collapsed building in the hard-hit Turkish province of Hatay, where whole stretches of towns have been levelled.
(Manas Dasgupta)