Austria, Germany suspend rescue operations in Turkey

The Austrian Army and German rescue teams have suspended earthquake rescue operations in Turkey for security reasons.

A spokesman for Austria's military said there has been a “crash between” groups, without providing more details.

He told the AFP news agency that 82 soldiers from the Austrian Army's natural disaster relief unit had taken refuge in Turkey's southern province of Hatay, “in a camp with international organisations, waiting for instruction”.

They went to Hatay on Tuesday, February 7, with 45 tons of equipment and managed to rescue nine people who were trapped in ruins.

They are expected to return to Austria on Thursday, but this issue is still being considered, the spokesman said.

A similar decision to stop rescue operations has been made in Germany by the Federal Agency for Technical Assistance and nongovernmental organisations, which specialize in helping victims of natural disasters, I SAR, said the spokesman for this organisation.

“in recent hours, the security situation in Hatay province seems to have changed”, said I spokesman SAR, Stefan Heine. There's more reports of impacts between different factions, there were “

German teams “are standing in the joint camp for now as a result of this” situation and will return to their search-saving work when Turkish civil defence authorities “believe the situation is secure enough”.

A 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Turkey and Syria in the early hours of February 6th and followed by hundreds of posthumously, including an earthquake of 7.5. So far it is estimated that earthquakes in these two countries have killed over 28,000 people. / REL/