Pakistan

25% of US aid spent for refuelling helicopters

Official sources said that the cost of refuelling 19 US helicopters will be deducted from the $217m pledged.

Maha Mussadaq/kamran Yousaf September 08, 2010

ISLAMABAD: Almost a quarter of over $200 million in aid committed by the US for flood victims will go towards the refuelling of American helicopters being used for rescue and relief operations, The Express Tribune has learnt.

Official sources said that the cost of refuelling 19 US helicopters, which are currently operating in the flood-hit areas, will be deducted from the $217 million pledged by Washington.

“The refuelling would cost $40 to $50 million,” an official, working with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), revealed on the condition of anonymity.

The US Embassy confirmed that American helicopters were operating in the flood-hit areas as part of the overall relief package. “The cost of the helicopters is calculated per hour of the flight and they are all part of $217 million relief package for Pakistan,” US Embassy spokesman Richard Snelsire told The Express Tribune. He said that the US military aircraft supporting flood-relief efforts in Pakistan had so far transported more than 3.9 million pounds of humanitarian assistance supplies and rescued more than 12,000 people.

Government officials said that currently over 70 helicopters including 19 from the US, 4 from Afghanistan and 3 from UAE are taking part in the rescue and relief operation. “The operational cost of these helicopters is really high, so a good portion of foreign assistance goes there,” NDMA Chairman Lt General (retd) Nadeem Ahmed told The Express Tribune.

Meanwhile, the US Embassy issued a statement on Monday stating that the first two of four additional US Marine Corps helicopters arrived at Pano Aqil Air Base near Sukkur. This brings the total number of the US military helicopters currently operating out of Pano Aqil to six. They will join 17 other US Navy and Marine Corps helicopters already in Pakistan supporting flood relief efforts. Two more helicopters are scheduled to arrive in the coming days, the statement added.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 8^th, 2010.

COMMENTS (17)

Anoop | 13 years ago | Reply @SSA, My intention was to make a point,not offend. Sorry if you were. Pakistan is short of Pakistan and newspapers around the world use the short form to save space in their headlines. Besides, I am not writing an article. India DID accept aid from Pakistan when an earthquake happened and the aid was offered by Musharaff. We did NOT ask the Pakistanis to route the aid through UN. The reverse is NOT true.

SSA | 13 years ago | Reply @ Nadeem. What is 'Sue' Moto?

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SSA | 13 years ago | Reply @ Anoop. You are not even bothered to write the full name of the country. From Cricinfo to Tribune, Indian people commenting on things related to Pakistan have almost exclusively replaced Pakistan with Pak and Pakistani with Paki. I don't see anyone using 'Ice' for Iceland or 'South' for South Africa. Amazing. Just as bad as some Pakistanis I know calling every Indian 'Hindu.' And let's not get too cute with all the India is the enemy thing. It is pointless to oversimplify things. We all know that the reverse ( India accepting Pakistani machinery/help/personnel ) would be the same. That is the reality, sad or just plain.

Nadeem | 13 years ago | Reply Comments from people like Mr Ahmad and Mehdi Army represent the mind-setup developed in "Madrassahs". The well-developed conservative approach reflects a lot in their comments. But .... these sort of people do exist in every cornor of our society and in our media Some "high profile" people in the Supreme Court also belong to the same school of thought. So may it be that a "Sue-moto" notice will be taken for why the choppers are being fueled from the aid amount.... they should be refueled by flying them back to US and then they should come back because flood-victims would be waiting for them in waters.

jai | 13 years ago | Reply @mehdi army would you rather nobody sends aid and the poor stranded in the floods die of starvation so you who is fortunate enough to not be affected by the floods can feel good about yourself and massage your islamic ego. you are clearly fortunate enough to have internet access. who will the people stranded in the floods approach? what have you done for them?

Sadia Hussain | 13 years ago | Reply I fail to comprehend the point behind this article, so if the cost of refueling of helicopters will be deducted from the 217 million aid package does it this come as a cardinal sin? These helicopters are engaged in rescue missions should these missions be abandoned? Please put pessimism aside and appreciate whatever assistance we are getting!

Aftab Kenneth Wilson | 13 years ago | Reply What a stupid type of information ??? What do you think the Choppers will be fueled by flood waters ? Please don't misguide the already confused citizens. Write something good for those who are lending their help in this time of need. I would request the editor of Tribune to please stop these types of columns which do not make any sense at all. What message is this columnist/reporter sending, is he fueling hatred against USAs rescue missions through camouflaged reporting? Mr. Kamran, if you really are a reporter who also happens to be the citizen of Pakistan then come up with full detail of all foreign missions which are here to help us in this time of agony and pain. Don't pen down adverse reporting.

Bangash | 13 years ago | Reply do Pakistanis expect choppers to fly without fuel ? What kind of nonsense story is this ?

Ajith Bsc MBA | 13 years ago | Reply Every thing had a price in this world.. So dont blame US for it, It is imperative for Pak to take care of themselves when they can afford to spend on nuclear arsenal!!!!

Imran Khan | 13 years ago | Reply Its a usual thing. Not a very important news to put at the Front page. The main thing is that America is helping us at the time of need but what we are doing for our people?

Anoop | 13 years ago | Reply ToI says there are 300 choppers near the Pakistani border. Pak can request them to help out. But, no India is the enemy..

Ammad | 13 years ago | Reply Slap in the face for those who were saying US is helping, it is at front, guys Saudi Arabia is the biggest donor wid 10 crore dollars.

abrar | 13 years ago | Reply Obviously the fuel and operational cost will be deducted from the aid package. What we need to understand is that all the relief operation provided by our own army is also at the tax payers expense, as is the relief being provided by the civil administration. The only good news is that in the case of the relief operation by our army, it will be more cost effective with minimum of pilferages involved as compared to our civil administration, where a large share will be consumed by corruption. It is already being reported in the electronic media that cooked food provided by philanthrophists is being sold by DPOs in Sind to NGOs, which portrays the depths to which these people have descended. The government needs to punish such criminals. We already have lost all credibility in the world, this would only bring more shame to us.

mehdi army | 13 years ago | Reply And how many blackwater agents did these helicopters bring with them?

ahmed | 13 years ago | Reply beggars shouldn't be choosers

Umayr Masud | 13 years ago | Reply Why is this even a headline item on the website? It is quite obvious that the cost of relief efforts is always charged from the aid that is being given. It happened in the previous earthquake as well. Its strange that the item is as if it is a shock or a revelation.. the shock and revelation actually is that Pakistan does not even have enough helicopters to help in relief efforts, and this is 5 years after the earthquake.

IZ | 13 years ago | Reply Not sure why this is front page news. Its up to the NDMA to decide whether they want to use these helicopters or not. I would suggest that rescuing the 12,000 stranded people and delivering the tonnes of aid to inaccessible areas is worth the $50 million. The NDMA should prioritize setting up alternate means of providing supplies so that there is a cheaper option, but for now this is the only option...

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