Four soldiers martyred as army helicopter crashes in Gilgit-Baltistan

RAWALPINDI: Four soldiers were martyred when a Pakistan Army Aviation helicopter crashed in Minimarg area of Gilgit-Baltistan.

According to Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the helicopter was carrying the body of a martyred soldier Sepoy Abdul Qadeer to Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Skardu when the incident occurred

The military’s press wing said the crash occurred “due to technical reasons” resulting in the martyrdom of four army personnel including two pilots. The martyred personnel were identified as Pilot Major M. Hussain, Co-Pilot Major Ayaz Hussain, Naik Inzimam Alam and Sepoy Muhammad Farooq.

Major Ayaz was a resident of Malir area in Karachi while Major Muhammad Hussain was a resident of Skardu’s Khaplu area. Naik Inzimam Alam and Sepoy Farooq lived in Chakwal and Sahiwal areas of Punjab respectively.

A similar incident occurred in July 2019 when at least eighteen people including five crew members were killed and twelve civilians were injured after a Pakistan Army Aviation aircraft on a routine training flight crashed in Rawalpindi.

According to the ISPR, the aircraft crashed in built up area resulting into 12 fatal civilian casualties. The crew members martyred in the incident, including two pilots, were Lieutenant Colonel Saqib, Lieutenant Colonel Waseem, Naib Subedar Afzal, Havaldar Ibne Ameen and Havaldar Rehmat.