SEPANG: “Please save our children,” those are the words that continue to echo in the minds of Malaysian rescue team members who were deployed to quake-hit Turkey.
Malaysian Special Tactical Operation Rescue (Storm) team member Saiful Munir Mohd said he cannot hold back his tears whenever he recalls those moments.
“I still remember there was a woman who said, ‘please save our son’.
“We saw the suffering that the families were going through until our last day there and there was still a man who was hoping that we could help him find his grandson,” Saiful told FMT when met at KLIA upon his return.
Malaysian Civil Defence Force (APM) disaster management and operations assistant director Amirsarifudin Zalman said the situation on the ground in Turkey tested him emotionally.
Amirsarifudin said he is still reminded of the look of worry among the victims and their plea to help save their family members who were stuck under the rubble.
APM was able to find and locate 28 bodies.
“While we were doing our operation, there were family members waiting on the side and they would tell us where they think their family members were stuck and take us to the location,” he said.
Khairul Jamil, commander of the Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (SMART) said while he was in Turkey, he received news that his wife was in labour.
He said while his health was not entirely stable, he was more worried about his wife’s condition but was able to control his emotions as he needed to help the quake victims.
“It is sad that I was not by her side, but I leave it to God. She was supposed to be due only next month, but she gave birth early. Regardless, my responsibility as part of the search and rescue operation (in Turkey) continued,” he said.
On Thursday, 70 members of the Malaysian search and rescue (SAR) team to the earthquake-stricken region of Nurdagi in Turkey returned home after 14 days. Tracker dogs Denti and Frankie also accompanied the team.
They had left for Turkey on Feb 6, just hours after an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 hit southern Turkey and Syria. The disaster has taken at least 45,000 lives so far.
