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Nicola Anderson, Irish Independent, 12th January 2006
A GOAL aid convoy stuck in a high mountain pass in Pakistan has
been
rescued by British Army commandoes.
The aid convoy had a narrow escape after coming 'perilously close'
to
slipping off a mountain road while delivering supplies to victims
of the
Pakistan earthquake.
John O'Shea of the GOAL organisation described it as 'pure good
luck'
that a team of British Army commando engineers had arrived on the
scene,
adding that the incident again illustrated the need for an international
rapid response unit.
His organisation's 11-vehicle convoy was cut off by a sudden blizzard
in
the Kashmiri mountains in the stricken region on New Year's Eve
close to
the remote villages of Mallot and Rangola, some 7,000ft above sea
level.
None of the team of five Irish aid workers received any serious
injuries
in the incident, though they had to walk the perilous ten-mile journey
back to a nearby village.
The abandoned convoy was subsequently dug out of the snow drifts
three
days later by a group of over 100 British army engineers.
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