Construction of Italian field hospital starts in Antakya

In the southern Turkish city of Antakya, workers have begun construction of the field hospital sent by Italy after the massive earthquakes that killed more than 30,000 people and injured over 100,000.

The field hospital, donated by the northern Italian region of Piedmont, as well as medical equipment and supplies collected from other regions, arrived at the port of Iskenderun on Tuesday on an Italian Navy ship.

A group of medical teams and civil defense officials to work in the field hospital left for Turkey on Wednesday on two planes.

After the Feb. 6 earthquakes, Italy had also sent a search and rescue team consisting of firefighters, civil defense and health teams to Turkey. The first team had returned to the country the previous day and had handed over its mission to a new unit.

The naval vessel San Marco, which is sailing from Italy to Iskenderun, is also carrying relief material for Syria, which has been affected by the earthquakes. It is planned to transport the camping equipment intended for Syria, with a capacity of 1000 people, from Turkey to Lebanon by ship.