UAE delivers 2,624 tonnes of aid on 97 flights to support earthquake-hit Turkey and Syria

The Emirates is playing a significant role in rescue and relief efforts

The aid flight being unloaded after landing in Damascus. All photos: Mahmoud Rida / The National

The aid supplied to Syria by the UAE includes food, in brown packaging, and tents in the blue packages

A UAE official manages the process from inside the plane

Food and other perishables are packed in brown boxes

Syrian airport workers begin to unload the food supplies

Syrian workers help to unload the aircraft

Tents and other camping materials being moved from the plane

Follow the latest news on the earthquake in Turkey and Syria

The UAE has sent 97 relief flights to support earthquake-hit Turkey and Syria, delivering 2,624 tonnes of aid.

A total of 58 cargo planes carrying 1,918 tonnes of relief material have been sent to Syria and 39 have landed in Turkey, carrying 706 tonnes of food and medical supplies and tents.

The Emirates has played a significant role in a major international response to the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the two countries.

The death toll from the disaster last Monday has climbed above 44,000, with millions more affected by the trail of destruction left behind.

The UAE's support is being carried out under Operation Gallant Knight/2, which is being led by the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation and the Emirates Red Crescent.

The mission has seen Emirati rescue teams deployed in life-saving operations as well as essential medical equipment being flown in.

The UAE's 50-bed field hospital, that recently arrived at Gaziantep Airport in Turkey as part of the raft of support, has treated 174 earthquake victims to date.

The hospital is fully equipped and has medical, technical and administrative teams to help people injured in the earthquakes that hit the country last week.

Delivered last week, the hospital has been set up in a 40,000-square-metre area and has 50 beds and four ICU beds.

On Tuesday, the UAE announced that an Emirati search and rescue team had pulled two young men, aged 19 and 21, from under the rubble in the Turkish city of Kahramanmaras.

Col Khaled Al Hammadi, commander of the UAE search and rescue team in Turkey, said they are using sniffer dogs and working in shifts in the hope of finding survivors.

On February 11, an Emirati team rescued an 11-year-old child trapped under the rubble in Kahramanmaras province.

The crew also pulled a man in his 50s or 60s to safety during the mission.

On February 8, the Emirati team rescued a Syrian family of four from the rubble in the same city. A mother, her son and two daughters were saved after more than five hours of digging through the debris.