A Japanese medical team left Narita airport, east of Tokyo, by a chartered flight Tuesday afternoon for China's quake-hit areas to provide support for medical efforts in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake on May 12.

The 23-member medical team is made up of four doctors, seven nurses, seven pharmacists and five liaison officers, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry. The team will arrive in Chengdu, capital of the quake-hit Sichuan Province at night.

The flight will head back to Tokyo earlier Wednesday morning, taking back Japan's 60-member relief team, which has decided to conclude their rescue efforts.

The first group of the disaster relief team arrived in Chengdu on May 15. It was the first batch of foreign aid personnel to enter China since the magnitude-8.0 earthquake jolted a wide range of areas across China.

(Xinhua News Agency May 20, 2008)