Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad said it is giving its full commitment to facilitate all rescue flight and cargo operations passing through its wholly owned Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport, following a devastating earthquake that hit southeast Türkiye early Monday morning.
MAHB managing director Datuk Iskandar Mizal Mahmood said they were also in close coordination with the Malaysian Foreign Affairs Ministry to provide additional help in the form of transit accommodation at the Airport Hotel to 75 Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (SMART) personnel before their deployment to the affected areas.
“As the airport operator, we are giving our full commitment to facilitate all rescue flight and cargo operations passing through SAW. The first rescue flight departed at 0841 (8.41 am) local time and since then six other rescue flights had departed from SAW carrying a total of 1,400 rescue team members.
Iskandar Mizal said the Istanbul airport is one of two airports designated by the Turkish government to serve as a rescue and logistics hub, where the General Aviation Terminal is being utilised as a crisis management centre with the airport providing all necessary support, including food for the rescue team.
The earthquake, which hit near the city of Gaziantep, has killed 912 people in Turkiye and 476 people in Syria.
The Foreign Ministry said no Malaysians were reported to be affected by the earthquake so far.
