Five majors among 12 killed in army copter crash

PESHAWAR: An air ambulance helicopter of the Pakistan Army crashed on Thursday in the mountainous Tanawal area in Mansehra, killing all 12 people on board, including five majors, military authorities said.
Military officials told ‘The News’ that the helicopter was on a medical mission from Rawalpindi to Gilgit to evacuate a soldier who was seriously sick and needed urgent medical treatment.According to military officials, it was anMI-17 air ambulance helicopter which was equipped with the latest medical facilities including ventilators. Besides members of the Army Aviation, doctors and paramedics were on board when it crashed.
Those who died in the crash included two pilots, Major Humayun and Major Muzammil, Major Dr Shahzad, Major Dr Atif, Major Dr Usman, Havaldar Munir Abbasi, Flt Engineer Havaldar Asif, crew chief Naik Amir Saeed, technician Naik Maqbool, Sepoy Rahmatullah, nurse Amanullah Khan and Sepoy Waqar.
“It was a full-fledged air ambulance evacuation helicopter of the army having doctors, paramedics and ventilators. It crashed in the mountains of the Mohar area of Mansehra district,” a military official in Abbottabad said.
The officials said the soldier in Gilgit had been critically ill and the ambulance helicopter was sent to evacuate him to a better-equipped hospital in Rawalpindi.
“These people were on their way to save the life of a soldier but lost their own. Their sacrifice can never be forgotten,” a security official remarked. He said a rescue team had been sent to the area to recover the bodies.
Military officials said it was too early to speculate on the cause of the crash. However, they believed the helicopter had crashed due to the bad weather.“The weather in the northern areas and in Mansehra was very cloudy on Thursday. Still the cause of the crash would be determined in the inquiry report later,” said the security official while wishing not to be named.
The military authorities ruled out any act of terrorism as the cause of the crash.Our Mansehra correspondent adds: Eyewitnesses in the Mohar area in Tanawal said the helicopter was flying low when it crashed at around 4:00pm. They said it hit a mountainside in the forested and mountainous area, causing a blast and fire. The locals said the weather was cloudy at the time of the crash. They added the local people rushed to the site after the crash and tried to mount a rescue mission but the chopper had caught fire and everyone on board was killed.