Advertisement

Rescue dogs leave Oslo for Nepal quake

The Local Norway
The Local Norway - [email protected]
Rescue dogs leave Oslo for Nepal quake
Norwegian Search and Rescue at Oslo's airport on Monday morning. Photo: Leif Gullsteinhovda / NRH / NTB scanpix

A 34-strong Norwegian rescue team - including six rescue dogs - is on the way to Kathmandu to help efforts to find those still trapped by Saturday’s devastating earthquake.

Advertisement

The Norsar team — comprising a pack of six rescue dogs, rescue experts from Oslo’s fire service, and doctors and nurses from Oslo University Hospital — took off from Oslo’s Gardermoen airport on Monday morning, and hoped to arrive in Nepal in the evening. 
 
At least 3,326 people have already been reported dead, and many thousands made homeless by the 7.8-magnitude quake which rocked 
central Nepal on Saturday. 
 
“We hope to rescue and help as many people as possible,” Håvard Bakken, a brigade commander from the Oslo fire services told NTB newswire before departing. “The reason we’re going is to find survivors.” 
 
According to Norway’s foreign ministry has contacted all but a handfull of the 200 Norwegians known to have been in Nepal when the earthquake struck and does not believe any have been injured. 
 
Many Norwegians in Kathmandu have been staying at the country’s embassy. 
 
A 19-strong group of climbers who were either on Mount Everest or preparing to climb it when the earthquake struck have all escaped unscathed. 
 
“We have twelve people in the town of Lukla, hoping to fly to Kathmandu today. A further seven were on Mount Everest and are on the way to Lukla,” Trygve Sunde Kolderup, the chief executive of Norway’s Hvitserk tour operators, told NTB. 

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also