8 Badly Hurt in U.N. Helicopter Accident in Sudan's Darfur

At least eight people were seriously injured Sunday when a helicopter from the U.N.-AN peacekeeping mission in Darfur made an emergency landing in the western Sudanese region, the mission said.

"A UNAMID helicopter, an Mi-8, carrying 18 passengers and three crew on board made an emergency landing approximately 100 meters" (yards) from the helipad at a base belonging to the mission at Saraf Omra in North Darfur, spokesman Ashraf Eissa told AFP.

All on board suffered "varying degrees of injuries as a result of the incident. Eight of them were reported to be seriously injured. No deaths were reported," Eissa said.

The passengers were receiving medical care at the Saraf Omra base, and the most seriously hurt were preparing to be evacuated, he said.

Passengers on board the helicopter included both Sudanese and foreign nationals traveling from the North Darfur state capital El Fasher, although no further details were given.

UNAMID said the cause of the accident at 12:30 pm (0930 GMT), was unknown and that it was investigating.

The joint mission first deployed to war-torn Darfur in 2007, four years after mostly black, African insurgents rebelled against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum, complaining of marginalization.

UNAMID has more than 17,000 military and police peacekeepers deployed across Darfur.

More than 300,000 people have been killed and another 2.5 million displaced in Darfur since the conflict began, the United Nations says.

President Omar al-Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court suspected of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Darfur.