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SINGAPORE: Singapore sent a 55-member team to China on Friday to help authorities there with search and rescue efforts in the aftermath of the Sichuan earthquake.
The Singapore rescue team, codenamed Operation Lion Heart, includes seasoned officers from the elite Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (DART).
The team will be in Chengdu by Friday evening.
Contingent Commander LTC Francis Ng How Juah said the team is determined to help rescue as many people as possible, who may still be trapped under fallen structures and rubble.
A Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) spokesman said the team brings with it rescue equipment like fibre-optic scopes, life detector systems and hydraulic cutters. Four search dogs are also on the mission.
He added that the contingent is self-sufficient, with food, fuel and equipment that it has brought along. It is not yet clear which area team members are headed for, but they will work with the local authorities once they arrive in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province.
The rescue team was sent following a request from China for help, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
China state media said early Friday it had accepted offers from Russia, South Korea and Singapore to send teams to help find thousands of victims trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings since Monday.
Time is running out to find survivors, experts said, from the 7.8-magnitude quake which hit Sichuan province on Monday. Tens of thousands of people are dead, missing or trapped, China officials say. - CNA/ir/ac
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