ISLAMABAD: Pakistan sent its first navy ship carrying aid for the survivors of a massive earthquake in Türkiye and Syria on Tuesday, as its government continued to contribute to the relief efforts made in the two Middle Eastern states, said an official statement.

The 7.8-magnitude earthquake, which jolted the region on February 6, killed more than 44,000 people in Türkiye while the death toll surpassed 5,900 in Syria.

The ship was dispatched by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in the presence of the country’s maritime affairs minister Faisal Subzwari and Turkish consul general in Karachi Jamal Sangu.

“As part of continuous relief assistance on Prime Minister’s instruction, to the people of countries affected by the deadly earthquake, the NDMA has dispatched first shipment through Naval Ship NASR from [Karachi Port Trust] West Wharf Karachi today,” the official statement said.

Minister Subzwari expressed condolences over the loss of lives due to the earthquake in the two countries and assured of every possible help from the government and the people of Pakistan.

The NDMA has already sent several planeloads of relief goods to Türkiye and Syria in the last few weeks.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif established a relief fund to help the quake-affected people earlier this month, asking the people of Pakistan to donate as generously as possible to help the two countries.

He also called his Syrian counterpart recently to extend sympathies and promised to send a medical team from his country to provide assistance.

A local search and rescue team also carried out a 17-day mission in Türkiye where its members pulled out several people from under the rubble while trying to help others who had been rendered homeless.

Sharif personally visited Türkiye to meet with its top political leadership and interacted with the survivors of the quake in cities flattened out by the natural disaster.