UN Helicopter Down - Islamabad

[Earl of Rochester]

Details only just coming in: 10 injured as UN flood relief helicopter crashes in Pakistan (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-10/01/c_13538639.htm)

ISLAMABAD, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- A United Nations flood relief helicopter which crashed earlier Friday morning in Pakistan's southern province of Sindh belongs to Russia, so far at least 13 people were injured during the accident, according to local media reports.
The helicopter, MI-8, is rented by the UN World Food Program from the Russian side for its relief work in the flooded area in southern Pakistan.
According to rescue operation official Brigadier Zubair Ahmed, the crash was due to technical problem. Rescue teams have been sent to the crash area and rescue work is still underway.
Some of the injured have been shifted to a nearby Chinese military medical team in Sehwan, a city in southwest Sindh province.
Eyewitness told Xinhua over telephone that the injured people sent to the Chinese military medical team included three UN workers and they are going to receive the operation there by the Chinese military doctors.
Conditions of the injured are not clear at the moment.
It was reported that the helicopter crashed into Manchar Lake, which is the largest freshwater lake in Pakistan and one of the Asia's largest. It is located west of the Indus River, in Dadu District, and was in high flood late last month.
Latest update: UN chopper on Pakistan food drop makes hard landing - *Latest news around the world and developments close to home - MSN Philippines News (http://news.ph.msn.com/regional/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4370862)

http://sgstb.msn.com/i/16/7F93B1771B4B7D74BF53C13ABD115A.jpg
Mi-8 on contract to the UN WFP which
crashed Friday morning 1 Oct in Dadu
Pakistan

[inducedrag]

UN helicopter distributing food aid to victims of Pakistan's devastating floods and carrying 13 people made a hard landing on water Friday causing injuries, Pakistani and UN officials said.

No one was killed or critically injured in the incident, which happened in the Dadu area of southern Pakistan's Sindh province, where torrential monsoon rains have caused massive floods in the country's worst humanitarian disaster.

The Russian-built Mi-8 UN helicopter made a "forced landing" in water at 8:40 am (0340 GMT), World Food Programme (WFP) spokesman Barry Came told AFP.

Pakistanis and foreigners were on the aircraft, including Pakistani boy scouts, although they were not thought to be among the injured.

"We're extremely relieved there were no deaths, but there have been injuries. We have 13 on board. There were no critical injuries.

"A rescue helicopter is on its way and will take the injured to Karachi," the WFP spokesman told AFP.

Iqbal Memon, a local Pakistani administration official, told AFP: "Due to some technical fault, the helicopter tried to make an emergency landing on an embankment and then it slipped into the water".

Ghazi Salahuddin, the Dadu district police chief, said seven people sustained minor injuries and would be taken to Karachi for treatment.

"We are now trying to secure and recover the helicopter," he said.

The incident happened north of Manchar lake. Villages in the area are still flooded and access is impossible by road, making air drops the only means for local people to receive food, officials said.