Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan thanks Vietnamese soldiers

76 officers and soldiers of the Vietnam People's Army's rescue team are continuing to carry out search missions in Hatay province, Türkiye.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan visited Hatay and Kahramanmaras provinces on February 20 (local time) to assess the damage as well as rescue and relief efforts.

In Hatay, the Turkish President met with international rescue teams, including the rescue team of the Vietnam People's Army.

President Erdogan thanked Vietnam for its timely support while shaking hands with Major General Pham Van Ty, Deputy Chief of the Standing Office of the National Committee for Incident, Disaster Response and Search and Rescue, Deputy Director of the Department of Search and Rescue (General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army), Head of the Vietnam People's Army Delegation.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Major General Pham Van Ty. Photo: Thi Tung/QPVN

President Erdogan thanked all countries that provided aid and support for search and rescue efforts in Türkiye. He stressed that the earthquake disaster once again showed the importance of international solidarity. The President affirmed that Türkiye will never forget that friendship.

As of February 20, the Vietnam People's Army's rescue force had searched 31 locations in Antakya district, helping the neighboring country identify 15 locations with victims of the earthquake, including 2 locations with signs of life using wall-penetrating radar.

The team handed over to the search team and recovered 28 bodies. In addition, the Vietnam People's Army rescue team coordinated with Bahrain and Mexico to find 3 locations with 10 bodies; helped 3 other households stabilize their living conditions. The medical team in the team received, treated, and provided medicine to 7 patients from the rescue teams of other countries.

Adding fuel to the fire for the officers and soldiers, Major General Pham Van Ty read the letter sent by the Minister of National Defense to 76 officers and soldiers. On behalf of the delegation, Major General Pham Van Ty thanked the Central Military Commission, the leaders of the Ministry of National Defense and the Minister for their attention, affirming that this was a great motivation for the members of the delegation to continue to make more efforts, determined to complete the task excellently, ensuring absolute safety in all aspects.

After reading the letter of commendation from General Phan Van Giang, the delegation continued to carry out the search mission in coordination with the local coordinating agency.

As of February 20, a strong earthquake has hit Türkiye and Syria, and the chances of finding survivors after two weeks are decreasing.

Yunus Sezer, head of Türkiye's disaster response agency, said on February 19 that search and rescue efforts had been completed in all provinces except Hatay (where the Vietnam People's Army rescue team is currently operating) and Kahramanmaras, the epicenter of the earthquake. Rescuers are still searching about 40 buildings in the two provinces, but the number is expected to decrease by the end of the day.