Media Room: Media Releases

Australian Army Black Hawk helicopters are now in the thick of their support task in the earthquake devastated region of northeast Pakistan.

Four Black Hawks from the 5^th Aviation Regiment in Townsville arrived in Pakistan in late November as part of the Australian Defence Force’s humanitarian relief operation assisting the earthquake.

An Australian Defence Force medical team was deployed to Pakistan on 10^th November to provide vital health care assistance to those affected by the recent earthquake.

The Australian contingent is based at Dhanni, about 20km north east of Muzaffarabad on the Pakistan side of the Kashmir Line Of Control.

The contingent, made up of about 140 personnel, includes medical, logistics, communication and command personnel, as well as the four Black Hawks.

The Black Hawk helicopters provide the medical personnel with the ability to assist remote regional communities, which have limited road access and are hampered by very difficult terrain.

The majority of the health and support personnel are from the Army's logistic support force based at Randwick Barracks, in Sydney. The medical team has been supplemented by an Air Force primary health care team based at Richmond, New South Wales, with other personnel drawn from a range of units across Australia. The team includes a number of Reserve personnel.

The Australian Black Hawks are flying about nine hours every day carrying our aeromedical evacuations (AMEs) and delivering aid. The patients being carried by the Australian Black Hawks are moved from the main Australian medical facility at Dhanni and other remote locations back a larger United States field hospital near Islamabad.

To date (as at 15 Dec 05), the Australian medical contingent operating at Dhanni have treated over 2600 patients since arriving in Pakistan in early November.

Pool Defence vision of Australian Army Black Hawks preparing for, and carrying out humanitarian relief operations in Pakistan is now available. Vision includes aeromedical evacuations being carried out by the aircraft. Vision will be fed to Federal Parliament Press Gallery at 2pm today.

Defence Public Affairs (02) 6265 3343 or 0408 498 664