New Delhi: India on Friday, June 26, launched Operation Amistad to aid Venezuela after the two consecutive earthquakes killed nearly 600 people and injured thousands of others.

As part of the operation, India shipped over 35 tonnes of relief supplies and an army field hospital unit with two Indian Air Force C-17 aircraft, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said.

“Operation Amistad underway! Two IAF C17s took off today for Venezuela with urgent assistance to support their post-earthquake relief efforts,” he wrote on X.

He added that the aid contains an Indian Army Field Hospital Unit and over 35 tons of relief supplies, medicines, and medical equipment, including two Bharat Health Initiative for Sahyog, Hita, and Maitri (BHISHM) Cubes.

Designed to save lives during the critical ‘golden hour’ after a disaster, these cubes serve as rapidly deployable mobile hospitals.

India is committed to supporting the Government and people of Venezuela in this difficult time,” Jaishankar said.

According to officials, NDRF personnel and equipment were flown in via IAF aircraft to bolster the ongoing search and rescue operations.

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Venezuela’s health ministry raised the death toll to at least 235 on Thursday, June 25, after two powerful earthquakes struck the country.

The shallow earthquakes, measuring magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5 and striking just 40 seconds apart on Wednesday, were the strongest to hit the South American country in more than a century and the deadliest in decades, Xinhua news agency reported.

They devastated parts of the country’s central coast and the capital Caracas, triggering widespread building collapses, power and communications outages, while raising fears of further destruction from continuing aftershocks.

Venezuela’s National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez told a press conference Thursday that about 200 people remained trapped under rubble. “We are racing against time in the hope of rescuing as many people as possible,” Rodriguez said.