Scramble for survival as desperate Iraqis mob aid helicopter

As the helicopter thunders skywards, a man clings to the barrel of the aircraft’s mounted machine gun to pull himself aboard.

It is a desperate move.

Literally, a last gasp effort to escape what has become a hell on earth.

The helicopter had landed to deliver aid to thousands of Yazidi people clinging to life on the barren wastes of Mount Sinjar.

The Yazidis have been driven there by threats to their lives from Islamic extremists.

Only aid is keeping them alive.

But here, what was meant to be a controlled mercy flight, rapidly turned into a scramble for survival.

Hundreds surged towards the helicopter from the mountain top as it hovered towards the ground, first waving desperately for aid.

Then, began the realisation there were a few spaces on the helicopter.

And a place on the helicopter, meant escape from starvation on the mountain.

And life.

The last man to haul himself aboard joined 19 other souls, plucked as if by random to safety.

The emotion of their escape from death was etched on their faces.

Three men sat staring ahead, their faces covered in dust and dirt.

A woman cries uncontrollably. The comforts of a fellow escapee doing little to calm her.

Another man weeps into his hands.

A child bites nervously on an aid biscuit.

A young boy is overcome with the emotion of his rescue. Tears fill his eyes.

Out of thousands, these were just twenty souls saved.

Their friends, families and loved ones remain stranded.

All hoping for a similar miracle.