SCDF team assists with rescue of Türkiye-Syria earthquake victim trapped in semi-collapsed building
A Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) team takes part in a search and rescue operation in a semi-collapsed building in Dulkadiroglu, southern Türkiye, on Feb 9, 2023. (Photos: Facebook/Singapore Civil Defence Force)
SINGAPORE: A Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) team in southern Türkiye assisted local emergency services with the rescue of a Türkiye-Syria earthquake victim on Thursday (Feb 9) evening, helping to locate the man who was trapped in a semi-collapsed building.
This was SCDF's second successful rescue operation in Türkiye in as many days.
The advance team of SCDF's Operation Lionheart contingent had been deployed to conduct a search and rescue operation at the building together with members of the local emergency management agency (LEMA) after reports were received about faint calls for help coming from its ruins.
The teams were dispatched to the two-storey building in Dulkadiroglu, in Kahramanmaras province, at about 8pm local time on Thursday (1am on Friday, Singapore time).
"Upon arrival at the location, five elite Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (DART) personnel and a paramedic worked closely with LEMA to conduct the search and rescue operation," SCDF said in a Facebook post on Friday.
"After ensuring the stability of the semi-collapsed building, LEMA and SCDF accessed the second floor through the back of the building where the faint calls were heard.
"SCDF used a fibre-optic scope and confirmed that a man was trapped behind a large concrete slab. LEMA then used breaking equipment to create an opening. The man was rescued within half an hour."
The rescue team was in constant contact with the trapped man throughout the operation, and he was attended to by locals after he was brought down from the building, SCDF added.
The 20-member SCDF advance team consisting of elite DART officers, paramedic specialists and a doctor arrived in Türkiye on Wednesday.
They will be joined by another 48 personnel who arrived in country on Friday together with four dogs from the SCDF K-9 unit.
Late on Wednesday, the advance team worked with a local team and a team from Spain to rescue a boy trapped in the rubble of another building in Dulkadiroglu.
As of Friday, the death toll from the Türkiye-Syria earthquake – the region's worst in nearly a century – stood at more than 22,000.
