PAKISTAN: The world's heaviest and most powerful helicopter used in earthquake relief operation in Pakistan

Record ID: 872662

  • Title: PAKISTAN: The world's heaviest and most powerful helicopter used in earthquake relief operation in Pakistan
  • Date: 4th November 2005
  • Summary: CU: OF 'UN' LOGO ON HELICOPTER
  • Embargoed: 19th November 2005 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Pakistan
  • City:
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
  • Reuters ID: LVA9Q383EPW2G8X5IHOBLXLFS97A
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: The world's heaviest and most powerful helicopter is being used in the relief operation by the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP). Destitute Kashmiris living in tents pointed skwyards in awe on Thursday (November 3) as the Russian built Mi-26 flew over the ruined city of Muzaffarabad one of three bulldozers it was ferrying into the hills swinging in a cable below it. The bulldozers are vital for a Pakistani army engineering unit trying to carve a new road in the mountainside north of Muzaffarabad, as the old one to the upper Neelam valley had slipped away in the massive earthquake that killed more than 73,000 people and severely injured more than 69,000. "Now we are (about to) transport a bulldozer from Muzaffarabad to Neelum Valley. Now (we) prepare cargo for the flight," the Russian navigator of the helicopter Viktor Redkin told Reuters Television. A military spokesman said there were no casualties in the Upper Neelam Valley, but the roads had to be opened because the villages up there had to be supplied for the winter. He estimated there were 100,000 people living in the remote valley that in parts runs along the border with India. Before a ceasefire two years ago that heralded the start of peace talks between India and Pakistan, the Pakistan army regularly airlifted in supplies to the upper reaches of the valley as Indian gunnery crews made the road too dangerous. Capable of carrying up to 20 tonnes the Mi-26, with the load and lift capacity comparable to a US C-130 Hercules, still had to deliver the bulldozers in parts for reassembly at the site.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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