UK team to support earthquake victims

£2M BACKING FOR HOMELESS

THE UK will send a team of aid workers to Indonesia to help with the aftermath of the Sulawesi earthquake.

Mass graves are now being dug as hundreds of victims remain unburied after the quake hit four days ago. The death toll is at least 844.

The Department for International Development confirmed five aid workers were being sent, along with £2 million of support to help the thousands left homeless.

International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt said: “The UK offers its deepest condolences to those affected by the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia which has left hundreds of people dead and thousands more homeless and in need of urgent help.

“Following a request from the Government of Indonesia, we are deploying a team of UK aid humanitarian advisers to the region who will use their disaster response expertise to help coordinate efforts on the ground.”

Meanwhile rescuers have pulled a 38-year-old man out alive from beneath a collapsed building in the city of Palu.

Indonesian TV stations showed video from the National Search and Rescue Agency of its workers freeing Sapri Nusin from the rubble of a destroyed building.

He was conscious and talking to his rescuers as they worked by flashlight to free him.