Haemorrhagic fever case in quake zone

Pakistani survivors offer their noon prayers on the roof of a collapsed mosque in one of the worst earthquake-hit areas, in Balakot, in the North West Frontier Province yesterday. The United Nations raised its appeal for emergency relief for Pakistani earthquake victims to more than half a billion dollars amid warnings that time is running out for millions of injured or homeless people. The death toll from Pakistan's massive quake is now 54,000.. PHOTO: AFP

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said it had not confirmed that the patient from the ruined town of Bagh was definitely suffering from the disease, which can cause death by massive internal bleeding.

"It is not a confirmed case but a highly suspected case," Krist Teirlink, the Paris-based charity's coordinator for emergency operations in Pakistani Kashmir, told AFP.

"The patient has been evacuated by the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation (WHO)," he added.

The WHO confirmed that it had flown out a suspected case of Crimean Congo Haemorrhagic Fever from the area by helicopter, adding that the man was due to arrive shortly in the capital Islamabad.