Pakistan child quake victims evacuated from tent blaze

ISLAMABAD, Tuesday (AFP) Pakistani army pilots have evacuated two child survivors of the Kashmir earthquake who were badly burned when their tent caught fire, a statement said on Monday.

Twelve-year-old Saad and his sister Maria, 14, both received 80 percent burns and their father was also injured in the blaze in the Basian tent village near the Pakistani Kashmir town of Balakot late on Sunday.

They were evacuated by helicopter to a burns hospital in Kharian, some 200 kilometers (124 miles) southeast of Balakot, the statement said.

A total of 91 helicopters from Pakistan, the US, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and private relief organisations are flying relief supplies and airlifting injured earthquake survivors, it said.

Since the October 8 earthquake, the helicopters have flown 2,715 hours, evacuating 13,651 casualties and airlifting more than 2,200 tons of supplies in Pakistani-administered Kashmir.