CCTV9英语新闻：中国派出3架直升机参与救援任务

The Chinese army has sent three helicopters from Tibet's Jilong County to the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, to help with relief efforts. The helicopters -- carrying further supplies -- departed on the 100-kilometre journey at eight o'clock Wednesday morning. 

 

The helicopters need to pass over huge mountain ranges, and manage the rainy weather and complex terrain. They will drop relief materials in some desperate areas of the country, and attempt to transfer the injured for further treatment. Their mission will last about ten days. A brigade commander involved in the mission said he is expecting it to be very challenging.

 

"One issue is we are not very familiar with Nepal's task region. After all, it's a foreign country. Another is there is a big altitude difference -- we are travelling from a region more than three thousand meters above sea level, to one that is one thousand meters above sea level. Also, we saw from television footage that the electric wires there were dangerous. We may face a risk of hitting ground barriers when we drop people and relief materials in a low-altitude flight," the commander said.