Members of the multinational NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force in Kosovo began an emergency operation on Saturday to bring aid to more than 100,000 people cut off by deep snow in neighbouring Albania, a KFOR officer said.

"We are helping with our helicopters in carrying food and medicine to these isolated regions," Lieutenant-Colonel Pasquale Zucca from KFOR's logistics base in Albania explained.

He said they had responded to a request from the Albanian Ministry of Defence for assistance to reach a range of mountain villages completely cut off after heavy snowfall and some of the coldest temperatures on record.

Neighboring Macedonia has recorded temperatures as low as minus 25 degrees Celsius (minus 13 Fahrenheit).

Five tons of food were first flown into the village of Trebishte, about 150 kilometres (90 miles) northeast of the capital, Tirana, which has been without proper supplies for weeks.

KFOR, which is based in the UN-run Yugoslav province of Kosovo, aims to get a total of 40 tons of flour, cooking oil, vegetables, soap, medicines and blankets collected by the Albanian government and Red Cross to the stranded villagers.

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