PESHAWAR - Five majors were among 12 people killed when an army helicopter crashed in bad weather while on a flood relief mission in Mansehra last night. There were no survivors.
It is the second military helicopter crash in the area in the last three months. Seven people including two foreign ambassadors were killed in May when another army MI-17 crashed at a nearby hillside holiday resort.
The latest victims were part of an army medical team flying from Chaklala airport, Rawalpindi with medicines and other relief supplies for those affected by monsoon floods in Gilgit.
The helicopter crashed when it flew into turbulent weather over the hills surrounding Mansehra, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Local residents in the Lassan Nawab Valley dragged the bodies from the wreckage but they were charred beyond recognition. According to local sources the MI-17 helicopter was engulfed in flames following an explosion after the crash.
Military sources named the victims as pilot Major Humayon Tipu, pilot Major Muzammil, Maj Dr Usman, Maj Dr Shehzad, Maj Dr Atif, Hawaldar Munir Abbasi, Flt Engineer Asif, crew chief Naik Amir Saeed, technician Naik Maqbool, Sepoy Rehmatullah Khan, nursing Sepoy Ammanullah.
Muharrir of Lassan Nawab police station Mohammad Hashim said the remote location of the crash – beyond mobile phone signals – had hampered efforts to reach the site.
Senior police officers had had to set off on a three hour hike to reach the scene, Muharrir Hashim said.
The helicopter was one of several deployed in the area on flood relief missions since floods submerged wide areas of the Gilgit-Baltistan province.
Residents spoke of panic in the area after hearing a heavy blast and said many had gathered in a local mosque to await news of the cause. When they were told of the crash, many of them rushed to the site and helped remove the dead from the helicopter, said Sardar Alam Zeb, a local eyewitness.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Mushtaq Ghani also confirmed that the crashed helicopter belonged to the army, adding that the site of the crash was a mountainous area, which could hamper rescue efforts.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has expressed deep grief and sorrow over the helicopter crash near Mansehra.
The premier expressed his condolences over the loss of life in the incident, and commiserated with the families of the deceased on this tragic incident.
Ambassador of Philippines Domingo D Lucenario Jr, Ambassador of Norway Leif Larsen and the wives of the Malaysian and Indonesian ambassadors were among seven people killed in the helicopter crash in Naltar Valley in the Gilgit-Baltistan region on May 8, 2015.
The Russian-built MI-17, used by air forces across the world, has had a patchy safety record in recent years.
Earlier in the day, a second Pakistan Air Force (PAF) helicopter, carrying out flood relief activities, hit a tree while making an emergency landing in Mastuj area of Chitral after developing a technical fault, military sources said. Four people, including the pilot, were injured in the crash landing and were treated at a local hospital.
Mansehra is a major stop for tourists on the Karakoram Highway which leads to China. It is also a major transit point to the northern areas and locations such as the Kaghan Valley, Naran, Shogran, Lake Saiful Mulook and Babusar.