spoke Sunday of families that had escaped, arriving in the town of Fishkhabour after a circuitous trek through Syria "in terrible condition, fainting from exhaustion." Some had told her that ISIS had abducted women and girls.

Unless food and water reach those remaining, mainly on the southern slopes, they have an impossible choice between dying of dehydration and giving themselves up to ISIS. Daytime temperatures exceed 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit).

Video of a Kurdish relief mission showed a helicopter landing with supplies on a barren scarp. Hundreds of desperate people ran toward it. Twenty lucky ones were able to scramble aboard for the return flight, many of them hysterical. A few dozen more have been picked up by Iraqi helicopters, which have also been bringing aid to the mountains.

Photographsfrom last week showed thousands of people abandoning their vehicles before trekking to higher altitudes, carrying what they could. On the northern side of the range, Christians were also fleeing, as ISIS fighters pushed toward the mountains from two directions. A few took refuge in caves, according to those who have escaped. Many more wandered the boulder-strewn slopes.

The U.S. Air Force has carried out three relief drops on successive nights since Thursday, which have included some 50,000 ready-to-eat meals. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the Pentagon had "pretty solid information" that of the 72 bundles dropped by C-17 and C-130 aircraft in the first mission, more than 60 had reached "the people who were trapped up there."

Two more U.S. airdrops followed, the latest on Saturday night, as well