ANKARA - Foreign Ministry spokesman Huseyin Dirioz said on Friday that Turkey sent a search and rescue team comprised of 21 people and humanitarian aid to Algeria, which was rocked by an earthquake.
Dirioz told a press briefing that the plane carrying the search and rescue team and humanitarian aid consisted of tents, medical equipment and medicine left for Algeria at 5.00 a.m.
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul sent condolence messages to their Algerian counterparts, Dirioz said.
Dirioz recalled that the Foreign Ministry proposed help to Algerian officials immediately after the earthquake and stated that aid materials were sent to Algeria after the positive response of that country.
The search and rescue team is comprised of 15 personnel of the Directorate General of Civil Defense, five members of the GEA search and rescue team, one official of the Red Crescent, and a sniffer dog.
The humanitarian aid consists of 100 big tents provided by the Red Crescent, 51 parcels of medical equipment and medicine.
(BRC-AÖ) 23.05.2003