Operation Dost operations in full swing for Turkey quake relief

The seventh Operation Dost flight on Saturday departed for earthquake-hit Syria and Turkey. The Indian Air Force C17 carrying relief material, medical aid, emergency and critical care medicines, medical equipment and consumables took off from Hindon Airbase in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad.

The IAF aircraft with relief material, medical aid, emergency and critical care medicines will first land in Syria and unload material and then head to Turkey. Minister S. Jaishankar also took to his Twitter handle to inform about the flight departing from Ghaziabad.

The Ministry of External Affairs said that the earthquake relief material and equipment were sent to Syria and Turkey. The flight is headed to Damascus and after offloading relief material there, it will head to Adana.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs, the flight is carrying more than 35 tons of relief material, of which over 23 tons is headed for relief efforts in Syria, and around 12 tons to Turkey.

The assistance being sent for Syria comprises relief materials, sleeping mats, gensets, solar lamps, tarpaulins, blankets, emergency and critical care medicines, and disaster relief consumables, according to the Ministry of External Affairs.

An Indian Army doctor has developed an external fixator for hand fractures which is being used in Turkey and Syria for helping earthquake victims. The external fixator is aimed at healing the patients faster, the official said.

Colonel Vijay Pandey, the developer of the fixator, said that it is cheaper than the solutions available.

"The new fixator is lighter and cheaper than the solutions available earlier and can heal patients faster," he said.

The rescue and search team in quake-hit Turkey's Antakya are fighting against time to save the people as the death toll in the country reached 24,617.

(ANI)