Six members of the Blue Sky Rescue team from Southwest China's Guizhou province headed to Turkiye to help with earthquake rescue on Feb 7. This is the fourth time that Guizhou's civilian rescue team has gone abroad to join international rescue efforts after major disasters.

After the earthquake struck Turkiye and killed thousands of people on Feb 6, the Blue Sky Rescue team reported to the coordination center of the United Nations and Turkiye's emergency department, where they were approved to begin assisting in rescue efforts.

More than 10 members of Guizhou's civilian rescue team volunteered for the international rescue mission, and six experienced members were selected.

They brought professional earthquake rescue equipment, such as life detectors, and went to Wuhan to meet with other Blue Sky Rescue teams from across China. They then headed to Istanbul in Turkiye to join rescue efforts.

Guizhou's civilian rescue teams were established due to the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. Currently, Guizhou has more than 20 professional civilian earthquake rescue teams that have joined rescue efforts in China, Nepal and Indonesia.