Mexico’s famous rescue dogs are headed to Turkey following the catastrophic earthquake that rocked Turkey and Syria on Monday.
Mexico is famous for its highly trained and specialized search and rescue dogs. The canines are used frequently in Mexico, a country prone to earthquakes due to its location at the edge of the North American tectonic plate.
Julia, Ecko, Orly, Timba, Rex and July are among the 16 dogs who took off Tuesday morning from Mexico City and headed toward Turkey.
“The heart of our rescue team is currently flying to Turkey,” Mexico’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard tweeted on Tuesday.
Under the instructions of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a specialized inter-institutional urban search and rescue team made up of 150 people, which includes USAR-accredited personnel from the Ministries of Defense, Navy, and the Mexican Red Cross were dispatched Tuesday, according to a press release from Mexico’s Foreign Ministry.
“The team includes medical and food service cells, 35 search and rescue experts from the Mexican Army Immediate Emergency Response Team (ERIED) (25 specialists and 10 canine teams), 37 members of the Navy (35 USAR and 2 canine teams), five Foreign Ministry officials and 15 members of the Red Cross,” the release said.
The team of dogs will land in Adana, a major southern city near the epicenter of the earthquake, according to the statement.
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Source: www.cnn.com