Catalan firefighters travel to Morocco to help earthquake rescue effort

Catalan firefighters and medical staff traveled by road, sea, and air on Monday to aid the search and rescue efforts in Morocco following the devastating earthquake that has already claimed more than 2,500 lives. 

A medical team consisting of a nurse and a doctor, and 16 firefighters from the Catalan Emergency Rescue Team left Barcelona Airport for Marrakesh on Monday afternoon to help rescue survivors. 

They will be there until Friday and their priority, according to their coordinator, Sebastià Valle, is to find people alive. 

"We have a five-day window open where we can still locate people alive. The aim is to act before this window closes," he said.  

To do this, the team includes two trained dogs and two handlers. Local authorities in Marrakesh will direct them to where they are needed.