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A team of South Korean rescuers leaving for Turkey after a powerful earthquake left at least 5,000 people dead in southern Turkey and northern Syria, on Tuesday at Incheon International Airport. (Yonhap) |
South Korean rescue workers will fly to Turkey shortly before Tuesday midnight after a powerful earthquake killed at least 5,000 people in southern Turkey and northern Syria.
In Turkey alone, the death toll has surpassed 3,400 as of Tuesday afternoon.
The 118-member rescue team -- including doctors, emergency medical technicians and special forces trained to deal with disaster recovery -- is the largest single rescue mission ever put together.
President Yoon Suk Yeol was one of the first world leaders who had offered to help Ankara, calling it a “brother country.” Turkey fielded ground troops to back South Korea in the 1950-53 Korean War. Seoul has yet to confirm casualties from the deadly 7.8-magnitude earthquake.
