‘We will never forget’: Emotional crowd greets B.C. search team returning from Turkey

"You fought for us. We will never forget these days, especially how you helped," wrote one grateful supporter in a letter to the team.

Packing flowers and waving Turkish and Canadian flags, an emotional crowd greeted members of a B.C. search-and-rescue team as they arrived at the Vancouver International Airport, Tuesday evening.

The 10-member Burnaby Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) crew touched down after a week in Turkey, helping search efforts in the wake of a pair of devastating earthquakes in the country and neighbouring Syria that have killed more than 35,500 people.

Burnaby USAR, the only Canadian search-and-rescue team to head to the disaster zone, deployed primarily around the Adiyaman.

“For the past week, all of us are crying. We can’t sleep, we can’t eat, every breath we take it’s pain in our hearts, because we feel that people there at home can’t eat, can’t breathe, can’t sleep,” Tara Gulersen told Global News.

“The moment I heard the news Burnaby was going back home to help our people, it was the only bright moment we had, so it was so, so important for us that our people here were there for our people at home. It was so emotional.”

Gulersen said she was so moved by the team’s efforts she wrote them a thank you letter.

She said despite having never met any of the members, she felt like they were now part of her family.

“You fought for us. We will never forget these days, especially how you helped,” she read from the letter.