The Mirror joined the UK’s International Search and Rescue team in Morocco as they headed out on their next treacherous mission.
We caught up with them in Talati N’Yaaquob, high in the Atlas Mountains. They told how they had been searching remote villages for survivors following last Friday’s devastating earthquake. Twenty four members of the 60 strong UK team made the trip over the dangerous mountain range.
The team has brought four ‘live scent’ dogs from the UK - with two travelling to Talati. They have also been using satellite imagery to try and locate survivors. A huge traffic jam built up on the narrow twisting road leading to the town - as aid vehicles, emergency services and families made the journey.
The road was blocked by landslides, fallen rocks and a crushed car. Steve Davies, from Mid and West Wales fire service told us: “It’s been really, really challenging conditions. Also the distances and travel involved. After meeting with the local team we’re going to a remote village, two to three hours away, pushing through any blockages on the way, to see if we can enable rescues.
“We’ve always got hope, if we didn’t we wouldn’t be here. In Turkey we were making rescues after 7/8 days.” He said the construction of many homes from clay and mud meant they had totally collapsed due to the magnitude of the quake. But he said they had a “good, strong” team carrying out the searches.
“We will keep working until the local authorities deem the rescue phase is over. We will continue the search and rescue work, the priority is trying to find saveable life.” The UK team has joined an international effort in searching for survivors with other teams from Spain and Qatar.
Simon Forster, from Hampshire Fire and rescue said they had already searched some villages after arriving on Monday - but hadn’t found any survivors yet. He said: “Our primary objective is to identify and rescue live casualties. Ultimately we are here to support the Moroccan people, our hearts go out to them.
“We’ve been to a number of towns in the Atlas Mountains and foothills. “Most of them are scenes of total devastation. “We have tapped into the local emergency management system and they tell us which sectors they want us to work in. “We’ve travelled from Amizmiz today and it’s taken five hours. There have been massive landslides which have badly affected the mountain roads. “They are full of critical aid lorries in both directions. That’s what’s held us up.
“Once the roads are clear we will push on through, it’s critical that we get to these towns and villages.” He added: “We have four live scent dogs, very capable dogs, we’ve run them round four or five towns, but so far we’ve not found a viable survivor.” The 6.8-magnitude tremor struck below villages in the High Atlas mountains south of Marrakesh and collapsed homes, blocked roads and swayed buildings as far away as the country’s northern coast.
The quake killed more than 2,900 people and injured at least 5,530 others in flattened villages and townhouses. A group of 14 UK charity fundraisers, which included two doctors and two paramedics, were at base camp on Mount Toubkal in the Atlas Mountains, raising money for a hospice, when the quake struck on Friday.
As they made their way back down the mountain range, they came across a ruined village, where they helped a 17-year-old girl who had sustained leg and head injuries, and a young boy who had a serious head injury. They realised they would die unless the team could get the youngsters to a road where an ambulance was said to be near.
Caroline Pearce, from Ultimate Challenges, which put the trip together in aid of Halton Haven Hospice in Runcorn, Cheshire, said: “It was terrifying. “The team worked incredibly hard and rallied round each other and I was so, so proud of how they all worked and how we’ve come out of this safely.”
Paramedic Keith Scott, from Ellesmere Port, said it was “the most emotional challenge” of his life. He said: “When you’re faced with a near-death experience, which is what I thought was going to happen when I was sat in my tent at the time the earthquake hit. I don’t think it’s something that will never leave me.”
“It was only probably the next day when the light had broken that we could see the full effect of what had happened, the landslides and the rock falls and the damage that had been caused.”