(CS) Luxembourg Air Rescue (LAR) will be carrying out emergency flights in northern Albania, which is still battling extreme weather conditions, following an appeal by the Albanian government to the international community.

Several regions have been cut off after heavy snowfall and thousands of people are left isolated under increasingly difficult conditions, especially in the mountainous regions in the north of the country.

The foreign affairs ministry has commissioned the LAR to send one rescue helicopter to the crisis region for a week. It will be flying rescue missions from the Kukesi air base starting on February 22.

“Our mission is to get out a maximum number of people who are in extremely difficult conditions and who are in need of food and medical supplies,” said development minister Marie-Josée Jacobs ahead of the departure of the team, comprising the pilot, an intensive care nurse and an LAR technician.