He said the Malaysian SAR teams, comprising members of the Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (SMART), fire and rescue department, Civil Defence Force, and the Malaysian armed forces royal medical corps stationed in Nurdagi had shown extraordinary capabilities.

“I’m so proud of our teams who have shown extraordinary capabilities, making extraordinary sacrifices.

“The (Nurdagi) governor and representatives here also said that our teams have shown an extraordinary level of dedication.

“On behalf of all Malaysians, I would like to convey our appreciation. Malaysia will do its best to help.”

Bernama reported that Anwar spent about 40 minutes visiting the camp.

Yesterday, Anwar said he was leaving for Turkey to provide moral support to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the people of the country who were hit early last week by an earthquake that claimed tens of thousands of lives.

He arrived in Turkey at 9am local time (2pm in Malaysia), accompanied by foreign minister Zambry Abdul Kadir and Sabah and Sarawak affairs minister Armizan Ali.

They were welcomed by Malaysian SAR contingent deputy commander Safrizan Suhaini and MAS-10 team leader Abdul Manaf Che Isa.

Anwar was also given a briefing on the team’s operations by Safrizan before being led to meet Frankie and Denti, the two tracker dogs flown all the way from Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Anwar said Malaysia had successfully raised RM30 million in relief funds for Turkey and that he would meet with Erdogan to present the aid and convey Malaysia’s condolences and sympathies to the victims.

Anwar is scheduled to meet Erdogan in Ankara.

On Feb 6, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 hit southern Turkey and Syria.

As of Feb 13, the death toll in Turkey stood at 31,644, with another 106,428 people injured, while in Syria, 5,329 have died and 14,500 were injured.

So far, the Malaysian SAR team has successfully brought out 47 bodies from under the rubble and rescued a family of five who survived the extreme cold.