FIVE East Lancashire charity volunteers have been caught up in the second earthquake in Nepal.

Ummah Global Relief chief executive Abdul Adam from Blackburn, three other volunteers from the town and Rizwan Ali from Nelson flew out on Saturday with medical and other supplies to help survivors of the April disaster which killed more than 8,000 and left thousands injured and homeless.

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They were then caught up in the second tremor on Tuesday which left dozens more dead and more without a roof over their heads.

Zulfigar Aziz, from Nelson who is a trustee of Preston-based Ummah, said: “I have spoken with Abdul and Rizwan and they are all safe.

“They and the other volunteers, who include Zaheer Khan from Blackburn, are selfless family men who went out on a major humanitarian mission.

“They left behind equally selfless families who allowed them to go out to Nepal to help others.

“They are all OK.

“We hope to have them home safe in a couple of days.

“The Foreign and Commonwealth Office have been very helpful. We gathered medicines from pharmacies across Lancashire and clothes, cash for food vouchers and bedding from communities across the county to take out to the disaster zone.

“We are now just praying for their safe return.”

Lancashire Council of Mosques chairman and Burnley resident Adbul Hamid Qureshi said: “We are praying for the safe return of these individuals who went to help others.”

Ramsbottom mountaineer Melanie Southworth, 47, was among those who survived the first the avalanche on Mount Everest triggered by the first devastating earthquake in Nepal.

Brierfield mum-of-two Angela Shian, 38, cancelled her climb up Mount Everest days before it was hit by the avalanche because of a premonition, probably saving her life.

The two earthquakes, of 7.8 and 7.3 magnitudes, struck an isolated Himalayan area between the capital, Kathmandu, and Mount Everest.

Nelson-based Muslim Global Relief has also had a team of workers from India in the area, none from East Lancashire and none of whom have been injured .

British backpacker Matthew Carapiet, 23, was amongst those killed in Nepal.