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.
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