A Polish government plane with a group of 54 rescuers as well as 10 specially trained dogs plus 4 tonnes of equipment took off from Warsaw on Friday for the earthquake stricken Haiti.

The Polish team will join the ongoing international rescue effort aimed to bring relief to victims of the 7.0-magnitude quake.

According to Red Cross estimates, the Tuesday earthquake may have killed between 45 and 50 thousand people. Further 3 million may need immediate help.

The flight to Haiti was expected to take some 16 hours.

(Xinhua News Agency January 16, 2009)