Gilgit: A Pakistan military helicopter carrying diplomats to the launch of projects in northern Pakistan crashed on Friday killing 7 people, including Ambassador of Philippines to Pakistan Domingo D. Lucenario Jr., Ambassador of Norway to Pakistan Leif Larsen and the wives of the Malaysian and Indonesian ambassadors. The helicopter also carried Polish and Dutch ambassadors who survived, but sustained injuries.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was travelling to the mountainous northern region of Gilgit on a separate aircraft to launch two projects when the accident happened. He returned to Islamabad, his office said. Military spokesman Asim Bajwa said in a Twitter post that as well as the four foreigners, the two pilots were killed. He said the ambassadors of Poland and the Netherlands were among the injured.
Another pic of #Gilgit helicopter crash #Naltar pic.twitter.com/mM9yMGU8zP
— TY Khan (@TayyabYounis) May 8, 2015
According to local media reports, the helicopter crashed into a school building. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for shooting down the helicopter, however DG ISPR ruled out the possibility of any terrorist activity and said the helicopter crashed due to a technical fault.
Ventuno/ANI/BP