FOUR Blackburn men have travelled to Europe on an emergency mission to help people fleeing war-torn Syria.

Abdul Ahad Miah and Hassan Karolia have flown to Austria, while Zubair Valimulla and Sufyaan Valimulla set off to Hungary at the weekend.

The two teams are cooking up and distributing hot meals to refugees as part of Blackburn charity Al-Imdaad’s work in the region.

They are also handing out bedding and other essentials, and are sending home harrowing pictures and videos of the ordeal thousands of families are facing.

Al-Imdaad’s UK director, Abdussamad Mulla, said: “On Tuesday and Wednesday last week, our global offices had a conference and decided how to help these refugees.

“We decided to cover two countries, Hungary and Austria, and send them to assess the situation and provide emergency aid.”

“We have been distributing food and hygiene parcels and have been assessing the situation further.

“They left on Saturday and we have been receiving videos and pictures.”

The charity launched its emergency appeal for the Mediterranean refugee crisis after shocking pictures of three-year Syrian boy Alan Kurdi lying drowned on a Turkish beach were printed in the press last week.

It aims to raise £50,000 to help people displaced by the civil war, which has been described by the United Nations as the ‘worst situation since World War Two’ and has seen an estimated 300,000 people attempt the crossing of the Mediterranean so far this year.

Just 216 Syrians have been re-settled in Britain to date.