After
earthquakes struck Turkey earlier this week, leaving thousands dead and others
trapped under the wreckage, Saudi teams left Riyadh early on Thursday to help
with rescue efforts there.
Experts
from the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center, also known as
KSrelief, left the Saudi capital's King Khalid airport to join the
international mission to help Turkiye following Monday's 7.8-magnitude
earthquake that struck portions of the country's southeast, northwest Syria,
and surrounding areas.
Additionally,
KSrelief started a fundraising effort, which as of Thursday morning had amassed
nearly SR80 million ($21 million).
The
objective is to examine current needs in order to have a thorough grasp of the
situation in impacted areas, according to Fahad Al-Hajjaj, vice president for
operational affairs at the Saudi Red Crescent, who spoke to Ekhbariya TV.
He added that there are roughly 20 people on the Red Crescent team, including doctors and experts in several important sectors. The first of the four flights on the air bridge took off at 6 a.m. Saudi time.