"We are deeply concerned about the fate of the helicopter operated by Turkmenistan Airlines and chartered by the International Committee of the Red Cross," spokesman James Reynolds said.

The Mi-8 transport helicopter, which had completed its relief work, left the Pakistani city of Peshawar on Friday. It was scheduled to overfly Afghanistan en route to its home base in Turkmenistan, he said.

The helicopter was carrying seven crew members from Turkmenistan, Reynolds noted.

"We have no information as to the fate of the crew. We are in contact with the authorities in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan," Reynolds told AFP.

He said the aircraft had made radio contact with air traffic controllers in Peshawar to say it was about to leave Pakistani airspace. "Since then, we have had no contact."

Intense search operations were launched on Saturday and were continuing on Sunday, he said.

Red Cross officials said there were no ICRC staff on board the helicopter, which arrived in Pakistan on Octopber 23.

"The search for the helicopter is going on," another ICRC official, Layla Berlemont Shtew, told AFP late Sunday.

"We are in contact with concerned authorities but so far we have nothing about the fate of the helicopter."

Pakistani forces were conducting land and air searches in the areas bordering Afghanistan while US and NATO forces were combing mountainous areas in Afghanistan, US and NATO officials said in Kabul.

Afghan authorities said they had no information on the missing chopper.

A massive 7.6-magnitude earthquake on October 8 killed more than 73,000 people in northwestern Pakistan and Pakistani Kashmir, and seriously injured about the same number.

Around 3.5 million others lost their homes, and the United Nations has warned that hundreds of thousands of people living in tents are at risk of falling ill during the bitter Himalayan winter.

The United Nations cancelled all aid flights for three days last week due to heavy rain and snow. They restarted on Wednesday.

Six Pakistani soldiers were killed when an Mi-17 helicopter of the Pakistan army crashed during relief operations in Kashmir on October 16.

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