India’s 7th Operation Dost flight with 35 tons of medical supplies for Syria & Turkey lands safely

India’s seventh Operation Dost flight reached earthquake-hit Syria on Sunday with over 23 tons of relief material.

According to the Ministry of External Affairs, the flight is carrying more than 35 tons of relief material, of which over 23 tons is headed for relief efforts in Syria, and around 12 tons to Turkey.

“7th #OperationDost flight reached Syria with over 23 tons of relief material, including gensets, solar lamps, emergency & critical care medicines, & disaster relief consumables. Received at Damascus airport by Deputy Minister of Local Administration and Environment Moutaz Douaji,” tweeted Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi.

The IAF aircraft left on Saturday from the Hindon airbase near Delhi. After  unloading the supplies at Syria the plane will head to Turkey. EAM S Jaishankar also took to his Twitter handle to talk about the flight.

He tweeted, “The 7th #OperationDost flight departs for Syria and Turkiye. Flight is carrying relief material, medical aid, emergency & critical care medicines, medical equipment & consumables.”

The Indian Army also tweeted, “An #IAF C-17 aircraft got airborne last night for #Syria and #Turkiye, bearing relief material and emergency equipment.”

The Ministry of External Affairs said that the earthquake relief material and equipment were sent to Syria and Turkey. The flight is headed to Damascus and after offloading relief material there, it will head to Adana.

The Indian Army’s field hospital set up in Turkey’s Hatay province to treat people injured in the devastating earthquake is functioning round the clock.

A team of 96 Indian Army personnel has been stationed at the 60 Para Field Hospital in Iskenderun to provide medical assistance.

“Nearly 800 people have been treated at the hospital,” Lt. Col Yaduvir Singh, commanding officer of the 60 Para Field Hospital told NDTV.

He said the hospital was prepared to take on patients for as long as needed.

Lieutenant Colonel Adarsh, second-in-command at the hospital, says they have already performed 10 major surgeries at the hospital.

Many people have lauded the efforts of the Army. One patient who was treated at the hospital says, “Thank you, Hindustan. We appreciate that they are with us. We are happy they are here.”

Earlier this week, a picture of a Turkish woman kissing the face of an Indian Army woman officer to express her gratitude went viral on social media.

The post was shared by the official Twitter handle of the Additional Directorate General of Public Information (ADG PI) of the Indian Army.