Following a 15-hour flight, Israel’s humanitarian aid delegation arrived in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, on Tuesday, to assist with the search and rescue operations underway following a dam collapse that left dozens dead and hundreds missing, TPS reported.
Within hours of arriving at the site of the Bento Rodrigues, Brazil, collapsed dam, the Israeli delegation began to locate and recover several bodies from the thick sludge, according to a report from the site. The delegation includes 130 soldiers and civilians, including engineering experts, physicians, a ZAKA search and rescue team and firefighters.
Access to the area is only possible by helicopters, which were made available to the Israelis by the Brazilian army.
Assigned areas were scanned by specially trained search dogs belonging to the IDF Oketz Canine Unit, which passed on the data to the rescue and recovery delegations that entered the area to retrieve bodies covered in dense mud.
To date, 190 people have been rescued. The official death toll at the dam, which collapsed on Friday, stands at 58, with more than 300 still missing.