Bulgarian rescuers shocked by devastation in Turkey

published on 2/14/23 10:49 AM

Photo: Bulgarian Mountain Rescue Service

What they experienced after the devastating earthquakes in Turkey has left a deep impression on the psyche of the rescuers from the Mountain Rescue Service at the Bulgarian Red Cross. Initially, they first passed through Adana, where the scale of destruction was not so massive but they described what they saw in Antakya as an apocalypse. Talking to the Bulgarian National Television, Krasen Georgiev, head of the Bulgarian Mountain Rescue Team in Turkey, shared his experience and said that the Bulgarian team from the mountain service was feeling fine, as well as the dogs. "We managed it thanks to teamwork", pointed out Georgiev and added that they will now have to work with psychologists, because the things they have seen and experienced leave a deep impression and this must be mastered.

"I feel satisfaction with what we have done, but also sympathy for the Turks", he added. "We know of six people rescued by the Bulgarian team, it could be 7, it could be much more, because the search technology is such that we don't have enough information," added Emil Neshev, director of the Mountain Rescue Service at the Bulgarian Red Cross.

Meanwhile, two more people, one of them a 17-year-old boy, were rescued from the ruins in Kahramanmaras today.

People in the disaster-stricken areas need medical assistance and accommodation. Warm clothes, blankets and heating supplies are required. A Bulgarian medical team is ready to leave for Turkey, but it is not yet clear when they will go to the victims. The Turkish side is expected to indicate a location to which the volunteers will be sent, as well as to create an organization on the ground, Deputy Minister of Health Katya Ivkova told BNR. There are about 50 doctors who have expressed their desire to leave, among them there are also medical students.

According to the latest data, the number of victims of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria exceeded 37,500, and the cases of new rescues from the rubble are very few.

In Northwestern Syria, the victims have already exceeded 2,200 people, and the wounded are more than 12,000. On both sides of the border between Syria and Turkey, survivors are exposed to harsh winter conditions. All humanitarian aid to rebel-held areas in northwestern Syria, which was delivered from Turkey through just one border crossing, will now be able to pass through two more border crossings after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad gave permission for them to open.

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