Photo/Xinhua

Feb.8 (NBD) -- A rescue team of 127 members (the second batch) sent by the Blue Sky Rescue (BSR), a professional non-profit search-and-rescue organization, on Wednesday took off from Wuhan in flight CZ8021 with relief supplies and flew directly to Turkey. 

It is learned that the team is composed of members from Anhui, Sichuan, Hubei, Tibet, Guizhou, Hunan, Gansu, Jiangxi, Shanghai, and other provinces (districts and cities). There are 22 people from the Sichuan Blue Sky Rescue Team, 8 of which are from Chengdu. 

Li Minjie, deputy captain of the Sichuan Blue Sky Rescue Team, introduced that after learning about the earthquake in Turkey on February 6, the rescue team started the response procedure and reported to the relevant UN departments. More than 600 people from all over the country signed up. 

On the evening of February 7, the first batch of members of the Blue Sky Rescue team flew from China to Istanbul.

They are all backbone forces with excellent professional skills and rich rescue experience. They participated in post-earthquake relief in Nepal, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, Wenchuan, Ludian, etc. After arriving in Istanbul, the rescue team will go to specific rescue points according to relevant UN organizations.

Li Minjie said that due to poor communications networks, they still don't know much about the status quo of the first batch after they arrived in Istanbul.

The second batch of members arrived in Istanbul at Beijing time on the morning of Feb.9. According to preliminary estimates, the team members will carry out relief operations for about 15 days in Turkey.