A Mexican earthquake rescue team has sent eight members to Italy’s quake-ravaged Abruzzo region to assist in the nation’s rescue efforts which has already left more than 260 casualities, 15,000 injured and 28,000 homeless Mexican media said on Wednesday. -Xinhua

Tlaltelolco-Azteca International Rescue Brigade representative, Miguel Angel Garcia, after meeting with the Italian Embassey in Mexico, announced initial financing had been arranged and the first eight moles departed for Rome at 7:00a.m. aboard American Airlines.

Among the group are specialists in medical emergencies, vertical rescues, logistics, and search and rescue. A second seven-member squad of the non-profit brigade is on standby in Mexico City awaiting funds to fly to Italy.

The rescue brigade which is nicknamed “Los 19 Septiembre Topos” (Sept. 19 Moles) after their founders volunteered and united in Mexico City’s devastating Sept. 19, 1985, earthquake which according to official estimates left 10,000 people dead, 50,000 injured, and 250,000 people left homeless. It is believed that the death toll was underestimated and that as many as 40,000 to 50,000 people may have lost their lives. In Mexico City alone 412 buildings collapsed and 3,124 others were heavily damaged.

The Topos have participated in rescue operations in some 22 countries, including in operations in New York, the United States, after the Sept. 11, 2001, collapse of the Twin Towers, in Turkey after the 1999 earthquake, and in Indonesia after the 2004 tsunami.