PULSE NEWS MEXICO

A team from Mexico’s famed Topos rescue brigade — which gained international recognition during Mexico’s devastating 8.1-magnitude quake in 1985 that left more than 10,000 dead — helped rescue an 8-year-old girl from the rubble in Turkey on Friday, Feb. 10, four days after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck southern Turkey and Syria on Monday, Feb. 6, leaving a death toll of more than 33,000 and counting.

The rescue of the child by the Mexican team — composed of members of the Mexican Navy (Semar), the Mexican Red Cross and the volunteer Topos (which is the Spanish word for moles) — was assisted by local residents and recorded on a video released late Saturday, Feb. 11, by Foreign Relations (SRE) Secretary Marcelo Ebrard on his Twitter account.

The Mexican rescue brigade, composed of 145 search-and-rescue specialists, arrived in Turkey on Wednesday, Feb. 8, to help in the rescue efforts in disaster areas in various parts of the country.

The rescue brigade was also accompanied by a team of 16 specially trained rescue dogs, one of which, Proteo, a German Shepard, died on Sunday, Feb. 12, while on duty at one of the rescue sites.

As of Monday, Feb. 13, the Mexican team had rescued three people and recovered the remains of 11 bodies.