A team of 32 Maltese firefighters that is currently in Turkey helping to rescue earthquake victims will soon be returning home, to be replaced by another 32 of the Civil Protection Department colleagues. 

The shift change was announced by Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri on social media on Friday afternoon. 

A group of eight volunteers will also be joining the second team of CPD rescuers dispatched to Turkey, Camilleri noted. 

The CPD organised its rescue team one day after massive earthquakes hit Turkey and northern Syria, killing tens of thousands in what Turkish president Recip Tayip Erdogan has described as the “catastrophe of the century”. 

Maltese rescuers were asked to aid efforts in the eastern city of Malatya and have been working around the clock, searching for victims and pulling dead bodies from the rubble of crumbled buildings. 

Apart from the humanitarian tragedy they must contend with, the Maltese rescue team is also working in climatic conditions they are not used to, with temperatures dropping to sub-zero levels at night. 

Minister: Donations to continue to be collected

In his post, minister Camilleri also said that the CPD would be continuing to collect donations of food and clothes, to be sent to disaster-stuck areas in Turkey and Syria. 

On Friday, various people wrote on social media that donations were no longer being accepted at the CPD Ħal Far depot. But a CPD spokesperson told Times of Malta this was the result of a misunderstanding. Donations would continue to be collected, they said as they thanked the public for its generosity. 

The CPD depot has been flooded with donations of clothes, blankets, preserved foods and other items in the past days following an appeal for aid.

Much of that aid was being passed on to the Turkish Embassy in Malta to be flown to disaster zones in the country. On Friday, the Turkish Embassy in Malta said that it would now only be accepting donations of winter tents, gas heaters, blankets and generators. 

A CPD spokesperson told Times of Malta that they would be splitting donations of such items between Turkey and Syria, with donations of all other items being diverted entirely to Syria. 

Free Epic calls to Turkey and Syria

Meanwhile, telecoms firm Epic said that it would be waiving all charges for international calls from Malta to Turkey or Syria, as well as offering free roaming in Turkey, for the entire month of February. 

The initiative seeks to ensure that customers with friends of family in the disaster-afflicted countries can remain in touch, it said.