Ministerial delegation heads to Ankara to offer condolences to quake-hit Turkey

A ministerial delegation traveled to Ankara on Thursday morning to offer condolences to Turkey after the deadly February 6 earthquake.

Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib and Public Works and Transport Minister Ali Hamieh will meet with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and a number of Turkish officials to express Lebanon's support for Turkey.

On February 6, Lebanon had sent 20 soldiers from the Army's Engineering Regiment to Turkey to help in the search and rescue efforts, after a 7.8-magnitude quake struck near the Turkish city of Gaziantep, which is home to around two million people and on the border with Syria.

The Cedars-11 team of Lebanese Civil Defense volunteers later traveled to Turkey at its own initiative to search for Lebanese who were missing under the rubble of a destroyed hotel in Antakya.

The massive February 6 tremor has left over 46,000 dead in Turkey and Syria — the vast majority in Turkey.