An emergencies ministry plane carrying a...

The Il-76 transport plane took off from the Ramenskoye airfield at 5:30 Moscow time (02:30 GMT).

"The first plane will take a vehicle, rescuers and handlers with dogs trained to search for people," an emergencies ministry spokesman said.

A 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti on Tuesday. The quake"s epicenter was 10 miles southwest of the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, at a depth of just 6 miles. It was followed by dozens of aftershocks, including two measuring 5.9 and 5.0. Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said the death toll from the quake could reach "well over 100,000."

ZHUKOVSKY, Moscow Region, January 14 (RIA Novosti)