Guwahati: A 47-member National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team and canine squad members Rambo and Honey arrived back in India on Friday after carrying out 10-day-long rescue operations in earthquake-devastated Turkey.
India has offered Turkey which was affected by a strong earthquake, humanitarian assistance. Earlier this month, an Indian Air Force (IAF) C17 flight headed for Turkey with more than 50 members of the NDRF and a specially trained dog squad as well as the tools required for the relief work, including medical supplies, drilling machines, and other equipment.
With two different NDRF teams, the particularly trained Labrador breed dog squad which is an expert in sniffing and other crucial abilities during rescue operations in disaster-hit regions, departed for Turkey.
Shortly after the magnitude 7.8 earthquake devastated Turkey, India declared “Operation Dost” and dispatched a force from the Indian Army to establish the 60 Para Field Hospital and the NDRF for search and rescue operations, as well as relief and humanitarian assistance to the “Dost” area.
While the NDRF earned headlines for miraculously saving a six-year-old girl, most of the credit for the daring rescue should go to “Romeo” and “Julie,” two of the NDRF’s canine squad members.
When technology failed, Romeo and Juliet were successful. The whereabouts of the young girl under tonnes of rubble was discovered with the help of the dog squad. The small girl would not have survived without their assistance.
More than 41,000 people have lost their lives as a result of the earthquakes in Turkey and northwest Syria.