The Russian embassy in Sudan is continuing to search for a pilot who disappeared after a Russian helicopter was allegedly hijacked in Darfur, an embassy official said on Thursday.

"There is no news. We are tripling our efforts... But I can't say anything definitive now," Russian charge d'affaires Yury Vidakas said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that a helicopter carrying four crewmembers and five passengers had been seized by insurgents on Monday.

The remaining three crewmembers and all five passengers are safe, officials said.

However, the Russian aviation company that owns the helicopter, UTAir, initially said the helicopter had not been seized and that the crew and passengers were safe.

The helicopter, working in Sudan under a UN contract, was on a joint UN and African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur.

The civil war that broke out in the western region of Darfur in early 2003 has claimed the lives of more than 300,000, according to United Nations estimates, and forced 2.7 million people from their homes. The Sudanese side puts the number of dead at 10,000.

Several Sudanese rebel groups have recently signed peace accords with the government in Khartoum but a key rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Army, has so far rejected negotiations with Khartoum and fought fierce clashes with the Sudanese Army in March.

Russia has been maintaining a peacekeeping contingent in the war-torn country since April 2006 as part of the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS).

MOSCOW, July 29 (RIA Novosti)