SA police specialists to join Nepal relief effort

Durban - Four members of the police’s search and rescue unit will be flying to Nepal to help in the disaster relief operations being carried out in that country following a massive earthquake on Saturday.

Police spokesperson Major Thulani Zwane said in a statement on Tuesday that Pietermaritzburg-based Lieutenant Jack Haskins and his dog, Bear, had been selected to join relief efforts.

Haskins told News24 from OR Tambo International Airport that four search and rescue specialists from the police would be flying out with the disaster response organisation Gift of the Givers later on Tuesday.

He said the other three police officers - from the Free State, the Eastern Cape and Limpopo respectively - would be joining him on the trip to Nepal.

KwaZulu-Natal provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Mmamonnye Ngobeni said: “We wish him good luck and we hope he returns home safely after the duration of the rescue operation.”

Comment could not immediately be obtained from the Gift of the Givers.