'These people have suffered enough' - ShelterBox travels to aid of Syrian refugees

Crowds at the closed Turkey/Syria border Credit: Hand in Hand for Syria

Cornish charity ShelterBox has flown volunteers to the Turkey-Syria border to help deal with growing number of refugees there.

Up to 70,000 Syrians have fled increased violence around Aleppo - triggered by increased Russian air strikes and Syrian army gains.

But on reaching the border, they find it has been closed.

Aid workers are now setting up tents and distributing food and medicine to refugees.

Operations Co-ordinator Sam Hewett is heading up ShelterBox’s team, based in the Turkish border city of Gaziantep.

  • Around 35,000 people fled heightened bombing and fighting last week.

  • Some estimates say as many as 70,000 are now heading towards the border.

  • It remains closed to most of them, with only the seriously injured allowed to cross into Turkey by ambulance.

Turkey already shelters more than 2.5 million refugees from Syria

A crowded border crossing point Credit: Hand in Hand for Syria