Cuba sends medical team to Ecuador to help quake victims

The Cuban government has sent a medical team to Ecuador after a magnitude-7.8 earthquake devastated the country's Pacific coast, the official Granma daily reported Monday.

The group of 53 doctors, nurses and technicians left late Sunday for the disaster area along with a rescue team to help Ecuadoran authorities on search and rescue missions, the report said.

They will join more than 700 permanent medical workers, who have been stationed in Ecuador as part of a joint cooperation program, to work in the disaster-hit area.

Over 270 people were killed and more than 2,000 others injured in the earthquake.

Around 500 disaster relief experts from nine countries are already in Ecuador.

Source: XINHUA