Portuguese rescue mission received on arrival from Turkey

The Portuguese Government welcomed the members of the Joint Operational Force (FOCON) that was deployed to Turkey to support the search and rescue mission following the earthquake and aftershocks.

The Minister of National Defence, Helena Carreiras, the Minister of Home Affairs, José Luís Carneiro and the Secretaries of State for Civil Protection, Patrícia Gaspar, and for Health, Ricardo Mestre attended the ceremony.

At the reception at Figo Maduro military airfield in Lisbon, the Minister of Home Affairs José Luís Carneiro claimed that rescuing a ten-year-old child alive was "a highly significant moment" for the Portuguese mission in Turkey, "experienced with great emotion by the Portuguese".

José Luís Carneiro also said that this feat "sets down in an indelible wat this international mission carried out by the special force" and showed his "profundo appreciation and gratitude" for the work undertaken.

The mission departed on 8 February and returned on the 18th.

The Minister also said Portugal is available to deploy a new mission to assist Turkey: «If the EU Civil Protection Mechanism and the [EU] Emergency Response Coordination Centre wish it, Portugal is ready to deploy a new force for assisting with search and rescue and, if necessary, for the reconstruction also", he further stated.

The Joint Operational Force (FOCON) – coordinated by the Portuguese Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC) and made up of 52 members of the ANEPC Civil Protection Special Force, GNR (Gendarmerie), Lisbon Fire Fighters and the National Institute of Medical Emergency (INEM) and six dogs – was in the Turkish city of Antakya for more than a week, the city hit by two strong earthquakes on 6 February.