Turkey sending three aid aircraft to Libya -foreign ministry

Turkey is sending three aircraft to transport a rescue team and humanitarian aid to Libya, its foreign ministry said on Tuesday, after a massive flood caused by heavy rain killed 2,000 people in the city of Derna.

The rescue team will comprise 168 personnel, two search and rescue vehicles, and two rescue boats, President Tayyip Erdogan later said on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. The aircraft, also carrying hundreds of tents, generators, food, hygiene products and clothes, will depart for Benghazi in the morning, he said, adding that members of the gendarmerie and Turkey's disaster management agency (AFAD) would be among the rescuers.