Nine search-and-rescue workers from Mexico returned to Mexico City yesterday amid reports that their own country was jolted on Thursday by an earthquake measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale.
They were the last group of foreign rescue teams to leave Taiwan, and the ones who stayed the longest.
The Mexicans apparently left Taiwan with worries about their families and compatriots' safety, saying that they were anxious to fly home to join rescue and relief operations in their own country.
Mexico sent 18 rescue specialists to Taiwan in three groups shortly after Taiwan after the 921 earthquake. Nine other members of the elite Mexican team left earlier this week.
Mexico formed a 30-member rescue brigade nicknamed "Topos" (mole, in Spanish) after it was hit by a 8.3 magnitude temblor in 1985, which resulted in more than 10,000 deaths.
All Topos members have received stringent professional rescue and relief training. Armed with enormous experience and superb skills, the Mexican rescuers had given their all to the rescue and relief operation upon their arrival in Taiwan.
Over the past eight days, the team has taken part in search and rescue work in several hard-hit townships in central Taiwan, including Taichung County's Tali (
The Mexicans often worked like moles, burrowing beneath debris with primitive gear such as ropes and hammers. Sometimes, they even dug with their bare hands.
On the eve of their departure, the nine Mexicans still joined forces with two local firefighters to dig a passage into a caved-in tunnel along a mountainous stretch of the Central Cross-island Highway near Kukuan to search for a buried car believed to contain two or three women. Although they failed to find the vehicle, their bravery, devotion and professionalism won the respect of local rescuers and much praise from members of the public.
After more than a week of working in each other's company, the Mexican rescuers and their local counterparts have developed bonds of true friendship, and they prayed together to God and Buddha for the well-being of Taiwan and Mexico before the team's departure from the central Taiwan disaster zones Thursday evening.
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