Australian crews sent to Turkey after the country’s devastating earthquake helped pull dozens of bodies from beneath the rubble during the recovery effort.

Some 72 emergency services personnel arrived back in Sydney on Saturday after a two-week deployment following the earthquake that levelled towns and cities in parts of Turkey and Syria.

The team included more than 50 Fire and Rescue NSW crew, including urban search and recovery specialists, who undertook the exhausting tasks of searching collapsed buildings while battling aftershocks and confronting conditions.

FRNSW said Australian support crews helped locate and recover 34 victims from the rubble during their deployment in the Hatay province, the southern region of Turkey hit hardest by the early February earthquake.

The deployment also included NSW police and emergency service personnel from Queensland and the ACT.

The death toll from the earthquake and aftershocks has surpassed 50,000, while more than 160,000 buildings collapsed or were severely damaged.

Millions of people have been left homeless or in need of urgent supplies following the disaster. Three Australians have been confirmed as being among the dead.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said “many families can now lay their loved ones to rest” as a result of the Australian team’s work in Turkey.

In one situation, the Australia personnel were approached directly by a local to help retrieve 13 people, including six children, from the rubble of a four-storey apartment building in Antakya.

Before the Australians arrived, people in the neighbourhood were trying to recover the dead by digging with bare hands.

NSW Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke said the state’s firefighters were regarded as being among the world’s best at performing urban search and rescue operations.

“(They) put themselves on the frontline of this tragic disaster and I can’t thank each and every one of them enough for their efforts,” she said.

The deployment formed part of Australia’s $18 million humanitarian assistance package following the earthquake.

The money will also help various non-government organisations deliver aid, including food and emergency accommodation.

Federal Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt said the emergency response team’s work was incredibly important and they had experienced “relentless devastation and tragedy” in the disaster zone.