A voluntary search and rescue team is getting the cash to help earthquake victims in Pakistan thanks to the generosity of Oxford Mail readers.

Oxfordshire Search and Rescue is halfway towards the £10,000 it needs after the charity was flooded with donations over the past few days.

Gary Foo, commander in chief of the team, said: "I'm very, very pleased.

"Now I have absolutely no doubt that we can fund another trip out there. It is possible thanks to the appeal in the Oxford Mail."

He added: "The aid effort out there is now taking a critical turn as winter is coming, so our work is going to be cut out for us and there is going to be a lot to do."

Winter temperatures in the mountain areas, where many people are homeless and sleeping under canvas, will be freezing. There are concerns more people will lose their lives. The death toll already stands at 74,000.

Last month the team spent two weeks in the area taking aid and medical treatment to the victims. Treating hundreds of adults and children each day, the volunteers marched through the mountains to remote villages which had seen no help since the quake hit in October.

As well as their own medical expertise, the team plans to take winter tents and blankets, medicines, and surgical instruments, which are desperately needed in hospitals in Pakistan.

You can still help Osar, registered charity no. 1102722, with their bid to reach the £10,000 needed to fly another team to Asia.

You can make a donation: with a card payment at www.osar.org.uk, with a bank deposit into Oxford- shire Search and Rescue s charity account with HSBC. Sort code 402410, account number 11336312 or with a cheque made payable to Oxfordshire Search and Rescue (Charity Account), and posted to Osar, Fawley Court, Henley, Oxfordshire, RG9 3AE