A TEAM of Oxfordshire emergency medics hope to fly out to Haiti today to treat victims of the devastating earthquake.

Members of Emergency Response Team – Search and Rescue have been helping people isolated by snow in Oxfordshire over the past few days.

But now they will swap our county’s freezing weather for the chaos of Port-au-Prince, the Caribbean country’s capital.

Team leader Gary Foo, 43, from south Oxfordshire, said he hoped to be able to fly out with a team of up to 10 rescue medics today but added he was still arranging transportation.

He said: “We expect we will work in a field hospital carrying out assessments and treatments, and trying to treat as many people as we can and maybe getting some people out of rubble piles. I just want to get out as soon as we can and do as much as we can.

“When we were in Pakistan following the earthquake there, we were treating 600 people a day through the camp so we are geared up for that in Haiti too.”

He said the team would take medicine, trauma and medical equipment, rescue equipment and survival gear.

The medics are specially equipped to respond to remote locations, so they will also travel with satellite phones, satellite navigation systems, thermal imaging cameras and night vision goggles to help them locate and treat victims.

Up to 50,000 people are feared dead and millions have been injured, orphaned or made homeless by Tuesday’s earthquake.

Yesterday, staff at Oxfam’s logistics warehouse in Bicester were preparing emergency equipment to send to the disaster zone. Logistics manager Rod Hogg said the charity was unlikely to get a slot to fly out until Tuesday at the earliest.

He said: “We are sending out collapsible still tanks for holding water, distribution equipment, all the pipework and pumps and some support service items as well.

“The list is building up through the day of what is needed, based on how much is contributed to our appeal.”

He anticipated sending about 30 tonnes, or three truckloads, of goods for the initial response.

Six of Oxfam’s emergency specialists flew out on Thursday to co-ordinate the charity’s response.

Cedric Perus, Oxfam’s humanitarian co-ordinator in Port-au-Prince, said: “There are bodies all over the city. People have nowhere to put them so they wrap them in sheets and cardboard in the hope that the authorities will pick them up.”

At least one British woman, United Nations worker Ann Barnes, was last night among the missing.

l Call 0300 2001999 to contribute to Oxfam’s appeal.

l To find out more about ERT-SAR’s work, visit ert-sar.org.uk where you can donate to the efforts.

l The Disaster Emergency Committee has also set up a Haiti appeal – contributions can be made by calling 0370 6060900 or visit dec.org.uk