Gurkha Soldiers Arrive In Kathmandu

A team of British Army Gurkha soldiers have arrived in Nepal.

The men from the Queen's Gurkha Engineers flew out of RAF Brize Norton aboard a C-17, commissioned by the Department for International Development, taking with them some 30 tonnes of aid supplies.

A number of additional flights are expected in the coming days. 

Soldiers from the Royal Gurkha Rifles, based in Kent, are also being deployed to help in the rescue mission.

The Queen's Gurkha Signals are likely to follow.

Three initial response teams, comprised of British Army Gurkhas already based in the country, are already on their way to some of the worst-affected communities.

Other Gurkha soldiers are working alongside international search and rescue teams while a group who had been climbing Mount Everest have been coordinating efforts to get other climbers off the mountain. 

The Nepalese government say that as many as 10,000 people may have died in Saturday's massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake and the subsequent aftershocks.

International help is slowly reaching the country but efforts are being badly hampered by poor weather, impassable roads, a lack of helicopters and continued congestion at Kathmandu airport.

Thousands of people are still trying to get out of the Nepalese capital while aid and rescue flights wait for space to land.

The logjam has seen a number of planes being forced to turn back and others being held-up in neighbouring countries like India while waiting for a slot to land.

A flight carrying some 100 British nationals, many of whom had been sheltering at Headquarters British Gurkhas, Kathmandu, has arrived back in Stansted.

With the Nepali prime minister announcing that the Himalayan country was effectively "on a war-footing", the entire army and police force is involved in the search and rescue operation with some eight million people affected by the disaster.

Tens of thousands of ex-soldiers from the Indian Army's Gorkha Regiments, now back in Nepal, have also been called upon to help in the relief effort.

Forces TV's Laura Hawkins, meanwhile, has gone to see how one of the largest Gurkha communities in the UK is relaying vital information to Nepal.

To donate to the DEC Nepal Earthquake Appeal please click here. If you want to know more facts about the Gurkhas it's here.