Spain sent a plane carrying 56 rescuers and four search-and-rescue dogs to earthquake-devastated Morocco, on Sunday, after receiving an official help request from Rabat, according to a post by the Spanish Defense Ministry on X platform (formerly Tweeter).
Un equipo USAR de la @UMEgob, compuesto por 56 militares y 4 perros, ha despegado hoy desde la Base Aérea de Zaragoza hacia Marrakech, en un A400 del @EjercitoAire, para colaborar en la búsqueda y rescate de supervivientes del devastador terremoto sufrido en país vecino,… pic.twitter.com/ZSe3LpBYlc
— Ministerio Defensa (@Defensagob) September 10, 2023
An A400 military plane took off from a base in Zaragoza (northeastern Spain) and is heading to Marrakesh to assist in relief efforts.
The team belongs to Spain’s Military Emergencies Unit (UME), which is tasked with quick intervention in cases of forest fires, floods, and earthquakes.
The Spanish unit had taken part in Turkey’s earthquake mission in February, and helped rescue six people, including a mother and two children.
A powerful 7-magnitude earthquake rocked the central regions of Morocco on Friday at 11.11 p.m. The quake took place at a depth of 10km, with the epicenter located in the commune of Ighil (Al Haouz province).
So far, the quake claimed 2,012 deaths, and 2,059 injured, including 1,404 gravely.
King Mohammed VI landed in Morocco on Saturday, after cutting short a private visit to France, and immediately convened in Rabat a meeting to assess the damage that the central, hardest-hit regions suffered, with reconstruction efforts on top of the agenda.