A helicopter used by the Red Cross for earthquake relief operations in Pakistan has gone missing with seven crew on board, an ICRC spokesman said Sunday.
"We are deeply concerned about the fate of the helicopter operated by Turkmenistan Airlines and chartered by the International Committee of the Red Cross," AFP quoted ICRC spokesman James Reynolds as saying.
A 7.6-magnitude earthquake hit Pakistan on October 8, killing more than 73,000 people in northwestern Pakistan and Pakistani Kashmir, injuring thousands more, and driving about 3.5 million others homeless.
helicopter with relief supplies in Pakistan
According to Andre Paquet, Red Cross quake relief chief, the chopper, carrying seven crew members from Turkmenistan, lost contact with the air control tower after departing the northwestern city of Peshawar on Saturday.
The Mi-8 transport craft, which was scheduled to overfly Afghanistan en route to its home base in Turkmenistan, had been chartered by the International Committee of the Red Cross for relief operations in the quake zone for the past three months.
Officials is Kabul said that the Pakistani security forces have launched land and air search operations in the areas bordering Afghanistan, as NATO forces started combing mountainous areas in Afghanistan.
Afghan authorities said they had no information on the missing helicopter, which arrived in Pakistan on October 23 to help ease the suffering of the quake victims.
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