CAIRO, October 18, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Nine days after a devastating earthquake left a trail of destruction across their country, Pakistani army troops are putting their lives on the line in an uphill battle to reach survivors in remote areas, a US daily reported on Tuesday, October 18.

With many of the quake-ravaged areas situated in the upper reaches of remote valleys that can no longer be accessed by road, helicopters have to thread their way through mountain slots and steep-walled valleys on difficult and dangerous airlift missions, The Washington Post said.

Taking off from the packed-earth sports field that serves as the heliport in Mansehra, about 50 miles north of Islamabad, Maj. Rehan Abdul Hafeez flew his Soviet-made Mi-17 transport helicopter north with a load of UNICEF supplies and several passengers.

"From Balakot now there's no road," said Hafeez, 35, an easygoing man in an olive-drab flight suit and baseball cap. "It's all blocked."

"It's now the 10th day. They're more sick. They're hungry. And they're more cold."

The October 8 earthquake was the worst natural disaster in Pakistan's history, smashing towns and villages across a broad mountainous swath of Pakistani-controlled Kashmir and the adjacent North-West Frontier province.

Pakistani officials have said more than 53,000 people died in the quake, warning that the number could rise sharply as more bodies are found beneath the rubble.

UN officials estimate that around 3.5 million people were made homeless by the earthquake.

Pakistani soldiers unload supplies from a US transport helicopter in Muzaffarabad. (Reuters)

With hundreds of people, many injured, waiting near mangled tin-roofed buildings, the army no longer lands helicopters in cut-off villages without first deploying troops to ensure that crowds do not surround the aircraft and cause an accident.

The trickiest part of the rescue mission is when pilots battled crosswinds to land, according to the paper.

"They're rushing the helicopters. They're trying to topple it over," Hafeez said over the intercom of his helicopter as it chugged noisily 40 miles up the Kaghan Valley toward the snow-capped Karakoram range.

Buffeted by swirling winds, the helicopter slid crabwise as the pilot struggled to land on a tiny sloping field hacked from the side of a steep mountain.

He got it right on the second try and quake survivors rushed the bulky craft, shoving aboard the injured and the merely desperate as soldiers on the ground tried to control the crowd.

The hazards inherent in the missions were underscored by the crash Saturday of a Pakistani army helicopter in which all six crew members died.

Another Pakistani aid worker was killed by a whirring tail rotor while trying to retrieve medicine seized from a helicopter by a mob of survivors at a remote village, according to Hafeez.

As injured victims were hauled to the helicopter in blankets, other survivors struggled to force their way on board.

Soldiers tried to control the crowd by shoving with sticks, and in the end some villagers were turned away, including several who appeared to be injured.

One of those who tried and failed to make it aboard was a bearded man who held the limp form of a woman against his shoulder, the paper said.

He watched the helicopter depart with a look of anguish.

To augment Pakistan's limited fleet of helicopters, the US is providing the relief operation with 17 choppers.

"There's a lot of people sprinkled all over these mountains," UNICEF health officer Tamur Mueenuddin said.