Rescue team: Mission accomplished

China's International Search and Rescue Team returned to Beijing on Friday night after completing its work in Nepal following the magnitude-7.9 earthquake that struck the country. [Photo by Wang Jing/China Daily]

China's International Search and Rescue Team returned to Beijing on Friday after completing its work in Nepal following the magnitude-7.9 earthquake that struck the country.

The 62-member rescue team, consisting of experienced seismologists, rescue members and doctors and nurses, was dispatched by the Chinese government after the April 25 quake. They arrived in Kathmandu the following morning with six rescue dogs and 17 tons of rescue and medical equipment.

The earthquake and a string of aftershocks killed more than 7,600 people and injured more than 15,000, according to Nepal's Home Ministry.

During the two-week-long operation, the team provided medical treatment to 2,729 injured and rescued two earthquake survivors. One of the two, a 21-year-old man, had been buried under a collapsed seven-story building for more than 50 hours, according to Mi Hongguang, a media officer for the rescue team.

"The man was buried under a load-bearing wall, so the rescuers had to work carefully to avoid a second collapse," Mi told China Daily.

The rescue team was one of the five teams out of more than 100 international crews that successfully rescued survivors, according to the team.

Besides the Chinese team, which was on its 10th overseas humanitarian rescue trip since it was created in 2001, some nongovernmental organizations also sent rescue teams, including the One Foundation and the Blue Sky Rescue Team.

Mao Qun'an, a spokesman for the National Health and Family Planning Commission, said at a news conference on Thursday that as search and rescue efforts draw to an end in the earthquake-hit areas in Nepal, attention should be turned to preventing plague and other diseases.

China will send a second team of doctors on Friday to replace the current government medical team, which is composed of 58 medical workers, Mao said. The country currently has eight groups of rescuers and medical workers in Nepal to assist with treatment and disease prevention, according to the commission.

China has donated 1,600 tents, 10,000 blankets, 327 power generators and other badly needed supplies in the quake zones, the Ministry of Commerce said.