Online Desk: Bangladesh will send a 46-member specialist search and rescue team and relief materials, including medicines, to Turkey Wednesday following Monday’s earthquake, one of the deadliest in the world in more than a decade. Search teams from more than two dozen countries joined tens of thousands of local emergency personnel, and aid pledges have poured in from around the world in Turkey and Syria after the catastrophic earthquake that razed thousands of buildings in the countries, and the death toll kept rising, surpassing 11,000 today.

However, the scale of destruction from the 7.8 magnitude quake and its powerful aftershocks was so immense that many are still waiting for help. Lieutenant Colonel Md Ruhul Amin will lead the search and rescue team from Bangladesh. The team comprises 34 members from the army and 12 from the fire service.

A special flight of C-130J aircraft of the air force will be operated on the Dhaka-Ankara-Dhaka route to carry the rescue team and emergency relief and medical supplies. The special flight will leave Dhaka today and will return home on February 15, the Inter Services Public Relation Directorate said.

With hope fading to find survivors, stretched rescue teams toiled Wednesday in Turkey and Syria, searching for signs of life in the rubble of thousands of buildings. Rescue crews braved freezing overnight temperatures in quake-hit areas in both countries in hopes of reaching more survivors and to pull more bodies from the rubble.