A BOLTON fire officer is leading a search and rescue team looking for survivors of yesterday's Algerian earthquake.

Divisional officer Dave Morris and his crew of six, including firefighters from Little Lever and Radcliffe, flew from Stansted airport last night.

They were called in because of their experience in other disaster zones, including India and Turkey.

Other local team members include sub officer Martin Fisher who lives in Radcliffe, and sub officer Ray Clift who lives in Little Lever and works at Fire Station HQ in Swinton.

Altogether, 22 men and one woman from the International Rescue Corps (IRC) will work with other agencies in the search for survivors

They were joined on the flight from Stansted Airport by another 10 men and two women from the South West-based charity Rapid UK - Rescue And Preparedness In Disasters.

The scene awaiting Mr Morris, who lives in Farnworth and has 27 years experience in the fire service, is one of utter devastation.

Many areas were reduced to rubble and rows of bodies shrouded in sheets were piled up near a hospital, Algerian TV footage showed.

Speaking to the Bolton Evening News just minutes before leaving Philip's Park fire station in Manchester, where the North-west unit of the UK search and rescue team had gathered, Mr Morris said: "We need to get there as quickly as possible and at present, the information we have is rather sketchy.

"We are busy right now with gathering and checking our equipment. We expect to be out there for between four and seven days joining the search and rescue teams already at the sites."

Mr Morris said he had spoken briefly to his wife Christina, who works for Greater Manchester Police, explaining the emergency he is facing: "She is totally supportive of what I am doing. Unfortunately, she's working nights and I didn't get to see her today." Mr Morris's experience in dealing with disasters will prove invaluable to rescue workers in Algiers.

He was one of the first officers to arrive at the scene of the Manchester IRA bomb outrage in 1996 and was senior officer in charge of the fire service operation.

Although he has been a member of the UK search and rescue unit for nearly five years, it is the first time he has been called into overseas action: "Other local team members took part in the Indian and Turkish earthquake disasters."

Mr Morris, who works at West Command HQ in Bolton, has two sons who have followed him into the fire service. David, who is 26, is stationed at Gorton and Alan, aged 27, works out of Broughton fire station.