Armed forces’ search dogs awarded for rescuing 78 people
BURSA
Search and rescue dogs, dubbed the “silent heroes,” of the Turkish Armed Forces have been awarded for saving the lives of 78 people from the rubble following the deadly Kahramanmaraş-centered quakes that ripped through Türkiye’s south last month.
A total of 29 dogs from the Turkish Armed Forces Humanitarian Aid Brigade were taken to the quake zone with their teams.
The dogs, trained at the Dog Production and Training Battalion Command of the Military Veterinary School and Training Center Command in the Gemlik district of Bursa, played an active role in rescue efforts.
Commander Veterinary Lieutenant Colonel Dr. Umut Çelik stated that when they arrived at the quake region, they were deployed in the southern province of Adıyaman. Their dogs participated in search and rescue activities in different neighborhoods and found many citizens alive, guiding the teams to these people.
Çelik said that all of their canine teams have made them proud of their great success.
He emphasized that the teams were racing against the clock in the quake zone and that the dogs had been searching for survivors in the rubble for the first 40 hours without resting or eating.
When they arrived in the quake zone, especially in the first 40 hours, the teams participated in search activities under harsh weather conditions, often disregarding their own safety and working hard in the rubble areas to save as many people as possible, according to Çelik.
While 29 military dogs rescued 78 people from the rubble, they saved hundreds with the “life corridors” opened from the points marked in the rubble, guiding the search and rescue teams to the people they detected as alive.
Dogs named “Yasa,” “Masum,” “Devil,” “Alel” and “Teno” were awarded medals at a ceremony held at the Battalion Command for successfully completing their first mission.
Yasa, an 11-month-old labrador retriever, rescued 6-month-old baby Yiğit from the rubble after two hours of work on the fourth day of the earthquakes.