Chinese rescue team arrives in New Zealand for quake relief

Liao Juhua (5th R, Back), Chinese Consul General to Auckland, poses with Chinese rescue team members upon their arrival at an airport in Auckland, New Zealand, on Feb. 25, 2011. The 10-member Chinese rescue team, including experts and rescuers, arrived in Auckland on Friday and headed for the quake area in Christchurch by New Zealand's military aircraft. (Xinhua/Li Yaoyu)

Chinese rescue team members carry relief materials upon their arrival at an airport in Auckland, New Zealand, on Feb. 25, 2011. The 10-member Chinese rescue team, including experts and rescuers, arrived in Auckland on Friday and head for the quake area in Christchurch by New Zealand's military aircraft. (Xinhua/Li Yaoyu)

Chinese rescue team members carry relief materials upon their arrival at an airport in Auckland, New Zealand, on Feb. 25, 2011. The 10-member Chinese rescue team, including experts and rescuers, arrived in Auckland on Friday and head for the quake area in Christchurch by New Zealand's military aircraft. (Xinhua/Li Yaoyu)

Liao Juhua (R, Front), Chinese Consul General to Auckland, accompanies Chinese rescue team members to walk out of an airport in Auckland, New Zealand, on Feb. 25, 2011. The 10-member Chinese rescue team, including experts and rescuers, arrived in Auckland on Friday and head for the quake area in Christchurch by New Zealand's military aircraft. (Xinhua/Li Yaoyu)

AUCKLAND, New Zealand, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese rescue team has arrived here in the early hours of Friday, and will later travel to quake-hit Christchurch aboard military planes to start rescue efforts there.

The 10-member team, including experts and rescuers, was sent to New Zealand by the Chinese government, after the 6.3-magnitude earthquake in Christchurch, one of the country's largest cities, on Tuesday, which has killed at least 103 people, and leaving 228 missing.

During their short stay in Auckland, Chinese rescuers told reporters that they had been prepared for the rescue mission in New Zealand upon learning the disaster.

Although the golden time for rescue has passed, the members said they would spare no effort to save lives in the quake-torn region together with local and foreign rescuers.

The rescuers on the team, both skilled and well-experienced, were all awarded the international rescue certificate by the United Nations. They have taken part in international rescue missions including the one in Haiti in early 2010, the captain of the rescue team said.