Emergency aid carried by Western cargo planes was dropped on Iraq’s Mount Sinjar on Tuesday, meant for refugees from the Yazidi sect who are stuck without food, water and other basic supplies.

As many as 30,000 people remain trapped on the mountain as they flee Islamic State fighters who have seized large areas of northern Iraq and Syria in recent months.

The extremists have threatened to wipe out the minority group, who they consider to be devil worshippers.

On Tuesday, Vian Dakheel, a Yazidi member of parliament was injured in an Iraqi army helicopter crash. She was part of a team dropping supplies and evacuating refugees.

New York Times reporter Allissa Rubin was also injured in the crash which killed the pilot.

Thousands more Yazidi have escaped into Syria or made it back to Irbil in Iraqi Kurdistan in recent days.

But when they get there, they join thousands of Christian refugees who arrived first and face tough living conditions as they fill churches and the city’s streets.