A MALVERN aid worker is going to Iran to help develop refugee camps for displaced Afghan refugees.

Logistical expert Chris Dyer set off over the weekend as aid workers were desperately appealing for a break in the bombardment to allow food supplies to go in before winter.

Aid agencies Oxfam International, Islamic Relief, Christian Aid, Tear Fund and ActionAid have made the plea just days after a missile exploded a few hundred yards away from a UN World Food Program depot in Kabul.

A convoy of 250 tons of food being loaded at the time would have been the first delivery into the Oxfam food distribution site in Hazarajat since September 11.

Mr Dyer, a registered engineer for disaster relief, previously spent 10 years in the Army specialising in logistics and has since worked for the US army and the Sultan of Oman's land forces.

He will be accompanied by public health and sanitation engineers and a nutritionist, but says that he cannot predict how long he will be in Iran.

I don't really know what to expect at the moment, he said, speaking before he left Britain.

That is why we are going out there, to assess the situation. We will be recruiting and training local staff and it depends on how long that will take.

Aid agencies say the situation is further hindered because of increasing difficulty in getting labourers and truck drivers to load or unload food, drive deep into Afghanistan or stay overnight there.

It is evident now that we cannot, in reasonable safety, get food to hungry Afghan people, said Oxfam director Barbara Stocking.

We just don't know how many people may die if the bombing is not suspended and the aid effort assured. We do know the Afghans are an extremely resilient people who will do all it takes to survive.

''But if nothing changes, there will be huge loss of life and unspeakable suffering''