By Omer Tugrul Cam
BRUSSELS (AA) – Norway sent an ambulance plane to help relief efforts in quake-stricken Türkiye, NATO said on Wednesday.
NATO's Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre (EADRCC) said in a statement, "Norway has sent its C-130J Hercules transport aircraft to Türkiye to support the evacuation efforts and transport of emergency aid” following last week’s major earthquakes.
“The offer by Norway was coordinated through EADRCC, in close cooperation with the Turkish authorities," the statement added.
The first medical evacuation mission was flown on Feb. 13 to evacuate 28 patients via Adana airport – in one of the provinces hit by the quake – to hospitals in the capital Ankara, NATO added.
The statement stressed that the country has experience with such operations.
"In recent months, Norwegian military aircraft with special equipment has been performing weekly medical evacuation flights to transport victims of the war in Ukraine to hospitals in Europe," it said.
Over 35,400 people died in the magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes that struck southern Türkiye nine hours apart on Feb. 6.
Besides Turkish crew, more than 7,600 foreign personnel from 76 countries are on the ground in the affected region, according to the Turkish Foreign Ministry.
* Writing by Nur Asena Erturk in Ankara