Kent firefighters help quake victims

Members of Kent Fire and Rescue arrived in Iran on Saturday

Seven firefighters from Kent have flown to Iran to help search for survivors of Friday's huge earthquake.

Estimates of the death toll range from 10,000 to 25,000 after the quake hit the historic city of Bam.

The Kent team, experts in overseas search and rescue projects, received the call to head for Iran within hours.

Their last special mission was to help in the aftermath of an earthquake in Turkey in 1998.

The firefighters, along with others from Essex and Hampshire, flew from Stansted Airport in Essex to Kerman, 125 miles from the epicentre of the earthquake, landing in the early hours of Saturday.

We have a very experienced team and we train regularly for this sort of experience Assistant Divisional Officer Neil Hubbard

They have taken lightweight search and rescue equipment, such as snake-eye cameras and listening devices to aid the search for survivors buried under the rubble.

They are also equipped with tents and supplies to make them self-sufficient for the duration of their stay in Iran, expected to be about five or six days.

The Kent team were on the road within two hours of their help being requested by the Overseas Development Agency.

Their leader, Assistant Divisional Officer Neil Hubbard, said: "We don't really know what we're going to at the moment.

"The Overseas Development Agency has told us it's going to be a light, technical search and we're going equipped purely for that.

"We have a very experienced team and we train regularly for this sort of experience, which has manifested itself in us being on the road in two hours, fully equipped and ready to go."