At least 22 killed as Pakistani military helicopter crashes in Kashmir

Officials motorboat enquiry aft ‘technical fault’ causes an service Mi-17 to clang successful Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

At slightest 22 subject unit were killed erstwhile a Pakistani service helicopter crashed successful Pakistan-administered Kashmir, information sources told quality agencies, arsenic the portion holds wide ceremonial funerals for the victims.

The Russian-built Mi-17 transport chopper went down adjacent the determination superior of Muzaffarabad connected Wednesday. Videos showed heavy plumes of achromatic fume billowing from down a clump of buildings instantly aft the crash.

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The chopper “crashed … during take-off owed to a method fault,” said the military’s media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

The clang killed each unit connected board, according to the military, which has not confirmed the number. However, sources told the Reuters, Anadolu and Associated Press quality agencies that the decease toll was 22.

Security sources told Reuters that the dormant included 1 colonel, 2 different major-rank officers and 19 soldiers. They received a ceremonial subject burial connected Thursday, with flag-draped coffins carried by an artillery portion stationed successful Kashmir.

The clang happened during a play of heightened information successful the highly delicate borderline region.

The section authorities precocious imposed strict question restrictions pursuing convulsive clashes betwixt information forces and a recently banned confederation of civilian nine groups, which near astatine slightest 11 radical dead implicit the weekend.

Officials powerfully rejected immoderate transportation betwixt the section unrest and the aviation disaster.

“A committee of enquiry has been ordered to ascertain the nonstop method origin of the accident,” the ISPR added, noting that Chief of the Army Staff, Field Marshal Asim Munir, and each ranks “express heavy grief implicit the tragic nonaccomplishment of precious lives.”

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed heavy grief and sorrow, state-run APP reported.

The army’s aviation helping has agelong relied connected Soviet-designed Mi-17 helicopters arsenic transport workhorses for high-altitude deployments, although the fleet has suffered occasional fatal accidents successful Pakistan’s rugged bluish terrain implicit the past decade

Over the years, Pakistan has refurbished and overhauled 22 of its Mi-17 helicopters with assistance from the United States.