Mexico is sending the country’s skilled search and rescue dog team — who helped save people following Mexico’s Puebla earthquake in 2017 — to Turkey to help locate survivors days after a powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the country and Syria, leaving thousands dead.
At least 16 Mexican search and rescue dogs, and their handlers,boarded a plane to Turkeyon Tuesday, Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Secretary, announced in a Facebook post. Human search and rescue experts from the Mexican army, foreign ministry officials, and members of the Red Cross also joined the flight, per CNN.
“The Mexican canine pairs areready to support the rescue efforts in Turkey, Ebrard wrote on Facebook. “Pride of our 🇲🇽! With them is the goodwill and spirit of solidarity of the Mexican people.”
Some of the canines heading off to the mission include Orly and Balam, two border collies who work with the Mexican Red Cross. Ebrard shared a photo of the hero pup pair on his social media. There’s also aveteran rescue dog named Ecko, a Belgian Malinois who helped with recovery efforts after the 2017 Puebla earthquake, perBBC.
Marcelo Ebrard C./Twitter
Ebrard mention of Frida is a reference to the late search and rescue Labrador RetrieverFrida, who was a part of the special canine response team following Mexico’s deadly 2017 earthquake. She gained fame after successfully locating and bringing a dozen people to safety in Mexico City while wearing protective goggles and boots.
Frida helped Mexico’s search dogs gain international recognition, capturing hearts as she went. Her heroic rescues earned the Lab celebrity status on social media, garnering attention fromPEOPLE’s 2022 Sexiest Man Alive Chris Evans,whoretweeted a viral video of the rescue pup in actionwith the caption: “What did we do to deserve dogs?”
The Lab rescued 12 people and successfully located 43 bodies during her career. Fridaretired in 2019anddied in November2022 at 13.
SEMAR Mexico/Twitter
Several other countries have already dispatched canine teams to aid the rescue efforts in Turkey and Syria, according to theBBC, including the U.S., the United Kingdom, Greece, Poland, and Germany.
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
As of Wednesday, the death toll in Turkey and Syria hadtopped 11,000, according toCBS News.
source: people.com
