A 24-member team deployed by the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security has begun engaging in search and rescue efforts in the Turkish southeastern city of Adiyaman, which is among localities bearing the brunt of the devastating February 6 earthquake.

According to the ministry’s police department of fire prevention, fighting and rescue, the delegation arrived in the Istanbul international airport on February 10. Due to difficulties in traveling and having to transport 15 tonnes of equipment for rescue work, they were divided into two groups to reach the site where their services are needed.

On February 11, they began working at the rubble of a building in Adiyaman where the local authorities said 15 people are trapped.

Related inspection and planning activities are thoroughly conducted given extremely difficult conditions, as the temperature drops to minus 6 degrees Celsius and collapsed buildings continue to fall, said a representative of the team.

The group left Vietnam for Turkey on February 9, marking the first time Vietnam has sent a delegation on an international search and rescue mission to a disaster site far away from its territory./.