Red cross quake aid helicopter missing

A helicopter used by the International Committee of the Red Cross for its quake relief operations has gone missing with seven crew aboard, an official said today.

The helicopter lost contact with the air control tower after leaving the northwestern city of Peshawar on Saturday, a Red Cross official said.

The helicopter had been chartered by Turkmenistan to the ICRC for relief work in the quake zone for the past three months.

It was returning to Turkmenistan when it disappeared, the official said.