UN Heli Down in Western Sudan

[flyems]

Word just in that a heli working for the UN with 13 POB has gone down in western Sudan, there are survivors, exact circumstances and extent of unjuries not known to me at this time, medevac underway, will add details as they come along...

[Old Bullet]

one down here too, 7 missing since last Friday, no press reports though (which is a blessing in disguise?):(

OB

[organ donor]

Copter used for quake relief missingROSHAN MUGHALAssociated PressMUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan


- A Red Cross helicopter that had been used for earthquake relief in Pakistan since October was missing Sunday with a crew of seven aboard, the aid agency said.
The Mi-8 helicopter, operated by Turkmenistan Airlines, lost contact with Pakistani air control just before entering Afghanistan on Saturday, the International Red Cross said.
The crew members are employees of Turkmenistan Airlines, and there were no Red Cross staff on board. The nationality of the missing was unclear.
The region in which the helicopter is believed to have disappeared is covered with rugged, desolate mountains, but was not having bad weather at the time, said James Reynolds, deputy head of the ICRC delegation in Pakistan.
The tense Afghanistan-Pakistan border region is a stronghold of Taliban and al-Qaida militants, who often clash with government and U.S.-led coalition forces.
The helicopter was returning to Turkmenistan after completing its aid work and had refueled in the northwestern city of Peshawar, the Red Cross said.
Ground and air searches for the craft on Sunday were fruitless, Reynolds said.
The magnitude 7.6 quake on Oct. 8 killed 87,000 people and left about 3.5 million people homeless. Dozens of helicopters are involved in the relief effort.
In October, four people were killed when a U.N. helicopter heading for the quake zone crashed in Azerbaijan, while a Pakistan army helicopter went down in Kashmir because of bad weather, killing all six on board.


4 injured in UN helicopter crash in Sudan's Darfur
KHARTOUM, Jan. 25 (Xinhuanet)
-- At least four international relief workers were slightly injured and a Sudanese is missing in a UN helicopter crash on Wednesday in Gebel Marra in Sudan's western region of Darfur when it exploded in an emergency landing,a UN source here told Xinhua.
Earlier, UN Special Envoy in Sudan Jan Pronk told a press conference that the crash took place while it was attempting to evacuate 36 UN relief workers, including some Sudanese nationals,following violent fighting in the area.
He said that he has just learned about the crash of the chopper and could not know whether the cause of the accident was mechanical or shot by particular circles, adding the UN mission in Sudan would deliver a statement later when any information on the accident is available.
Pronk expressed his concern of what was taking place in Gebel Marra where 73 non-governmental organizations are operating,stressing the need to "evacuate the humanitarian workers this day".The UN official added that he informed Abdu-al wahid MohammedNur, one of the two rivals of the Sudan Liberation Movement, whose group controls the area, to commit to the ceasefire and to stop military operations there.
"I will not tolerate if Nur's forces captured those humanitarian workers," said Pronk. Enditem