A mission of mercy - in the shape of three ambulances - has set off on an 8,000-mile journey from Bradford to Mirpur in Pakistan.

The vehicles were waved off by Rick Bruce, clinical manager of the West Yorkshire Metropolitan Ambulance Service, and members of the Bradford Mirpur Friendship Link.

Drivers took the ambulances to Manchester where they were due to be shipped to Islamabad before arriving at their final destination at the end of January.

More than 35,000 people from Mirpur, which is in the Azad Kashmir region, now live in Bradford and the BMFL wanted to put something back into the community.

The link plans to send five more of the decommissioned ambulances if they can continue their fund-raising.

Khalid Mahmood, the project's co-ordinator, said: "Mirpur is not a very rich district, there's a lot of poverty, and a lot of the population live out of the city centre in rural areas.

"They often can't afford the money to get into Mirpur for medical treatment. These ambulances will be like mobile clinics which will travel around the district giving out life saving medical care."

Rick Bruce said WYMAS was approached by the link last year and agreed to donate one ambulance with the other two costing around £2,500 each.

He said: "These ambulances don't have the gases or the defibrillators in them but they will have a doctor on board. It's a quantum leap forward compared to what they are used to in Mirpur."

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