Romeo and Julie, NDRF's heroes behind Turkey rescue

Romeo and Julie succeeded where machines failed. The dog squad was instrumental in detecting the little girl's whereabouts under tonnes of rubble. Without their help, the little girl could not have survived.

The NDRF is currently making an all-out effort to save lives in the rubble at the disaster site at Nurdagi and in different parts of Turkey which were badly affected by the earthquake on February 6.

Dog handler constable Kundan explained how Julie first found the little girl, who has been identified as Beren, alive in the rubble at the Nurdagi site.

"We were asked by our government to facilitate search and rescue operations here in Nurdagi and we had a lead about a survivor trapped in the rubble. We asked Julie to go inside the rubble. She went in and started barking, which was a sign that she had detected a survivor trapped underneath," he told ANI.

"For reconfirmation, we sent Romeo (a male Labrador) into the rubble and he also confirmed through his barks that someone was, indeed, alive under the debris," another NDRF dog attendant told ANI.

However, no one knew about the condition and age of those alive at that time. After several hours of rescue operation, NDRF personnel succeeded in saving the 6-year-old Beren.

Appreciating NDRF for saving the girl, Home Minister Amit Shah later tweeted, " Proud of our NDRF. In the rescue operations in Turkiye, Team IND-11 saved the life of a six-year-old girl, Beren, in Gaziantep city. Under the guidance of PM @narendramodi, we are committed to making @NDRFHQ the world's leading disaster response force. #OperationDost."

India announced 'Operation Dost' shortly after the quake of magnitude 7.8 ravaged Turkey, and sent a team from the Indian Army to set up 60 para field hospital and the NDRF for search and rescue operations, including relief and humanitarian assistance to the 'Dost' country.

More than 34,000 people have lost their lives, so far, due to strong tremors from the earthquake and the search and rescue operation is ongoing even after seven days.