Joining the relief efforts for earthquake victims in Pakistan, an Indian cargo plane carrying the first consignment of 25 tonnes of relief supplies arrived in Islamabad early today.
The IAF's Ilyushin-76 aircraft, loaded with 15,000 blankets, 50 tents, plastic sheets, mattresses, food items and a variety of medicines and medical supplies landed at the Islamabad airport at 2:45 am, Indian embassy sources said.
Indian High Commissioner to the country Shiv Shankar Menon and senior Indian diplomats formally received the relief supplies and handed it over to Pakistani officials.
Complete coverage: Tremors across borders
It was the first Indian relief aircraft to land here since the 1971 Indo-Pak war. The aircraft initially took off from New Delhi at 11:45 pm yeserday, but could not land as there was no parking space at the airport. It went back and returned early today, sources said.
Aid has poured in from across the world following Saturday's massive earthquake, which killed tens of thousands of people in North West Frontier Province and in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. Struggling to deal with the devastating earthquake, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf had sought international help in terms of medicines, blankets, tents and helicopters to cope with the "biggest tragedy" in his country's history.
Expressing distress at the extensive loss of life and property in Pakistan, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had offered rescue and relief assistance to deal with the crisis. India had also offered to help in badly-affected places along the Line of Control on the Pakistani side which are easier to access from Jammu and Kashmir.