How NDRF’s canines, Romeo, Julie, Honey, Rambo are proving to be stars in Turkey

Turkey is probe to earthquakes as it located at a seismically active region. In 1999 too Turkey was hit by an earthquake in which 17,000 people had died

New Delhi, Feb 14: The four member canine squad of the NDRF are heroes in Turkey which has been hit by a devastating earthquake.

Romeo and Julie who are part of the squad are providing to be invaluable to the mission that India has undertaken in Turkey.

The NDRF team from India which has been part of the relief and rescue mission in Turkey had solid inputs that a survivor was stuck in the city of Nurdagi under the rubble. Nurdagiis near the epicentre of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake which rocked Turkey on February 6.

When the NDRF teams realised that a survivor was stuck under the debris, it was Romeo and Julie who swung into action. The two Labradors sniffed their way through the debris and barked, thus giving the signal that there was a survivor. The NDRF team brought in the machinery and began drilling and after hours of working very hard, they reached Baren, the six year old girl who was still breathing, reports said.

So far the Labradors who are part of the 2nd Battalion of the NDRF in Kolkata have helped the teams rescue two girls alive from under the debris in Nurdagi.

Currently there are three teams of the NDRF from Ghaziabad, Varanasi and Kolkata to help with the rescue mission in Turkey. The other two dogs in the team are Honey and Rambo. The canine squad has so far dug out 45 bodies from the rubble in Nurdagi and Antakya. Karen was rescued on February 9, while the nine Miray Karatas was brought out the next day. Vipin Pratap Singh of the 8th NDRF battalion from Ghaziabad said, "it is because of Romeo and Julie that we were able to rescue the two children. As they were searching through the rubble on February 9, Romeo stopped and barked and Julie joined him. After hours of search, we managed to drill holes into the concrete and bring the girl out alive. The next day, we found another survivor."

The personnel from Varanasi have been engaging in relief and rescue efforts in Antakya, while the teams from Ghaziabad and Kolkata are in Nurdagi. According to deputy commandant Deepak Talwar, they had on Monday extracted nine bodies.

The NDRF teams have been working under extremely harsh conditions.

In addition to cutting through the concrete, they are also battling sub-zero temperatures in the night. The temperatures are falling to -10 degree celsius. Further the language barrier is also making it hard to communicate with the locals. Despite these hurdles, our teams have ben working every day in 11-hour shifts, Talwar told Times of India.

Turkey has been probe to earthquakes as it is located in a seismically active region. One of the most devastating earthquakes to hit the country prior to the current one was in August 1999. The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.6 and 17,000 people had died. Widespread destruction was also reported during that earthquake.

Meanwhile the death toll in the February 6 earthquake crossed 33,000 in Turkey and Syria. The chances of anyone being alive now is quite slim, Talwar also added.