NDRF rescuers return from Turkey with stories of love, hugs

New Delhi: A paramedic leaving her 18-month twins behind to serve the call of duty, officials processing hundreds of documents to prepare more than 140 passports overnight and rescuers not being to able to take a bath for 10 days, the NDRF's mission in quake-hit Turkiye was full of challenges -- emotional, professional and personal. They returned to India after the difficult mission, a part of their heart still thinking if "we could have saved more lives", yet a part filled with the love and affection they received from the affected people, one of whom, grieving the death of wife and three children, ensured Deputy Commandant Deepak got his vegetarian food wherever he was deployed. "Anything vegetarian he had like an apple or a tomato.

He peppered it with salt or local spices to make it tasty." Deepak said he was deeply moved by what Ahmed was doing for him. The entry of the 152-members three National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams and six canines into the disaster zone was swift, and their exit "moving and emotional". They said they developed a bond with the people they helped during their most vulnerable times.

Many Turkiye nationals shed tears of thanks and gratitude to their 'Hindustani' friends and 'Biradars' who came in as saviours and took the combat patches and other military decorations from the uniforms of the Indian rescuers. The federal contingency force that began its operation on February 7, rescued two young girls alive and retrieved 85 bodies from the debris before they returned to India last week. Prime Minister Narendra Modi felicitated them on Monday at his official residence at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg.

More than 44,000 people have been killed in the massive 7.8-magnitude earthquake and series of strong aftershocks that struck parts of Turkiye and neighbouring Syria on February 6 flattening thousands of buildings and homes. "The Consular Passport and Visa (CPV) division of the Ministry of External Affairs prepared passports for our rescuers overnight. They processed hundreds of documents in minutes as the Indian government directed the NDRF to proceed to Turkiye," NDRF Inspector General (IG) N S Bundela told reporters here.

Another officer said out of the 152, only a few officers had a diplomatic passport ready to travel to a foreign land, and hundreds of documents were sent in from NDRF teams in Kolkata and Varanasi over fax and email to be processed for making of the passports.

"Turkiye gave our teams a Visa on arrival and we were deployed in Nurdagi (Gaziantep province) and Hatay as soon as we landed there," second-in-command (operations)-rank officer Rakesh Ranjan said. Constable Sushma Yadav (32) was among the five women rescuers who were sent for the first time to a foreign disaster combat operation. This meant leaving her 18 month-old twins behind. But she had no second thoughts. "Because if we do not do it, who will?" "I and another male colleague were the two paramedics of the NDRF team. Our job was to keep our rescuers safe, healthy and nourished so that they can do their work without getting sick in the sub-zero temperature which fell as much as minus 5 degrees in Turkiye," Yadav told PTI.

"I left my twins with my in-laws and this was the first time I left them for so long. But there was no difficulty in volunteering for the operation." Sub-Inspector Shivani Agarwal said while going for the operation was not a problem with her parents, but the longing for a chat to know about her wellbeing was difficult. "There is a time lag of about 2.5 hours between India and Turkiye. So by the time I got free and called them up it was 11:30 in the night. They picked the call on the first ring as if they were literally holding on to the phone," Agarwal said.