signatory
01-07-2006, 06:52 AM
ISLAMABAD, Jan 7 (Reuters) - The United Nations has suspended emergency earthquake relief flights to an area of Pakistani Kashmir after crowds of people rushed two helicopters demanding to be evacuated, a U.N. spokesman said on Saturday.
The Pakistani military was investigating the incidents in the Leepa region, southeast of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir, and the United Nations hoped to resume aid flights to the area shortly, the spokesman said.
The incidents happened on Thursday and Friday, after the helicopters had dropped off supplies and personnel.
"A group of people decided to hitch a ride. That is not the way we operate," said the spokesman, Ben Malor.
About 20 people who refused to get off the aircraft were flown to Muzaffarabad, he said.
Helicopters have been crucial in the huge relief effort to help survivors of the Oct. 8 quake, which killed more than 73,000 people in the Pakistani Himalayas.
With some roads swept away and blocked by landslides set off by the quake, helicopters have been the only way of getting help to many survivors in remote mountain settlements.
Apart from flights to the one area, all other air operations were going on as scheduled, Malor said.
Pakistani authorities and international aid agencies have been preparing for an exodus of people from high-altitude areas down to the valleys now that winter has set in but there has been no sign of a movement of large numbers, officials say.
Malor said the people who stormed the helicopters did not appear to be in particularly dire circumstances.
"They did not look like people who were sick and needed to rush out," he said.
A police official said U.N. agencies had agreed to keep authorities informed of their flight schedules and destinations.
The Pakistani military was investigating the incidents in the Leepa region, southeast of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir, and the United Nations hoped to resume aid flights to the area shortly, the spokesman said.
The incidents happened on Thursday and Friday, after the helicopters had dropped off supplies and personnel.
"A group of people decided to hitch a ride. That is not the way we operate," said the spokesman, Ben Malor.
About 20 people who refused to get off the aircraft were flown to Muzaffarabad, he said.
Helicopters have been crucial in the huge relief effort to help survivors of the Oct. 8 quake, which killed more than 73,000 people in the Pakistani Himalayas.
With some roads swept away and blocked by landslides set off by the quake, helicopters have been the only way of getting help to many survivors in remote mountain settlements.
Apart from flights to the one area, all other air operations were going on as scheduled, Malor said.
Pakistani authorities and international aid agencies have been preparing for an exodus of people from high-altitude areas down to the valleys now that winter has set in but there has been no sign of a movement of large numbers, officials say.
Malor said the people who stormed the helicopters did not appear to be in particularly dire circumstances.
"They did not look like people who were sick and needed to rush out," he said.
A police official said U.N. agencies had agreed to keep authorities informed of their flight schedules and destinations.