KHARTOUM: At least eight people were seriously injured on Sunday when a helicopter from the UN-AN peacekeeping mission in Darfur made an emergency landing in the western Sudanese region, the mission said.

"A UNAMID helicopter, an Mi-8, carrying 18 passengers and three crew on board made an emergency landing approximately 100 metres" from the helipad at a base belonging to the mission at Saraf Omra in North Darfur, spokesman Ashraf Eissa told AFP.

All on board suffered "varying degrees of injuries as a result of the incident. Eight of them were reported to be seriously injured. No deaths were reported," Eissa said.