BAM, Iran - The emergency response to the most devastating earthquake to hit Iran in a decade wound down yesterday as the final foreign rescue team left and a U.S. field hospital treated its last patient.
A flight took off from Bam airport carrying Turkish rescue workers - one of 24 foreign teams that rushed here after the 6.6-magnitude quake killed more than 30,000 people and injured as many.
The U.S. field hospital, which treated more than 720 patients in four days, closed yesterday morning. The hospital is one of six in Bam. Most will be phased out in the weeks ahead as the international Red Cross and Red Crescent open a larger facility.
Our mission is accomplished. We are going home
said Marty Bahamonde, spokesman for the U.S. relief team. He said U.S. medics conducted eight operations and delivered six babies - the last a girl born Monday.
Most of the team's 80 members were to leave Iran by Thursday, although a few Americans planned to stay behind to help raise funds for the U.N. agencies and charities working in this city. Bam has tens of thousands of homeless and the quake destroyed its water and sanitation infrastructure. 17
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