The team, including officers of civil defense and border guards, arrived on three large transport planes. Saudi Ambassador Abdul Aziz Alghadeer said the team would go to Hyderabad to work with the Pakistani armed forces in rescue operations.

"The sending of a search and rescue team to Pakistan reflects the deep-rooted relations between the two countries," said Alghadeer and urged the team members to exert all possible efforts to save the lives of their Pakistani brethren.

Prince Muhammad bin Naif, assistant interior minister for security affairs, said the Kingdom would send a second search and rescue team to Pakistan on Tuesday. He said the Saudi team members were trained in rescuing people trapped by floodwaters.

"Our team members are not only given advanced training but also provided with modern rescue equipment including rescue vehicles, boats, heavy equipment and electricity generators," the prince said.

Meanwhile, the response to appeal for aid to flood victims has been overwhelming in Britain. The British public has given 29 million pounds ($45 million) in aid to flood-ravaged Pakistan, charity officials said Monday.

After a slow start blamed on a lack of awareness of the crisis, the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), which coordinates humanitarian appeals from a dozen charities, said donations from the public were growing.

"This is a tragedy unfolding in slow motion with new areas still being flooded and the threat of deadly water-borne diseases stalking millions of survivors," said DEC chief executive Brendan Gormley.

He said the British public was "shaming politicians across the world" with its generosity.

British Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell said last week the government was doubling its emergency aid for Pakistan to more than 64 million pounds.

Oxfam humanitarian director Jane Cocking said the catastrophe has "the scale of the tsunami, the destruction of Haiti and the complexity of the Middle East."

The slow response by some countries has been criticized by UN officials. Britain's government has created a $100 million relief fund.

— With input from agencies