RAWALPINDI(National Times)- No survivors were reported after an Mi-17 helicopter of Pakistan Army Aviation crashed near Muzaffarabad on Wednesday during take-off “due to a technical fault”, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.
Rescue and recovery teams immediately reached the crash site. “All personnel on board embraced martyrdom. There were no survivors,” the ISPR said in a statement.
“A board of inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the exact technical cause of the accident,” the military’s media affairs wing said.
Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) and Chief of the Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir and all ranks of the army “express deep grief over the tragic loss of precious lives and extend heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families”, the ISPR said.
The army’s aviation wing had started using the Russian-made Mi-17 transport helicopters in the late nineties. Mi-17s are considered Pakistan Army Aviation’s reliable workhorses.
The fleet had been stressed because of the excessive use of these helicopters in counter-terrorism operations. The US helped Pakistan refurbish and overhaul 22 of the Mi-17s.
Condolences
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed deep grief and sorrow over the helicopter crash, state-run APP reported.
In separate statements, the president and the prime minister extended their heartfelt sympathies to the families of those martyred in the accident.
“The entire nation pays tribute to the great sacrifice of the martyrs and shares the grief of the bereaved families,” President Zardari said.
Paying tribute to the personnel who embraced martyrdom in the crash, PM Shehbaz said that the entire nation salutes the brave soldiers for their sacrifices.
Both leaders prayed for the elevation of the martyrs’ ranks and for strength and patience for the bereaved families.
The Senate also offered fateha for those who lost their lives in the incident, with Senator Maulana Attaur Rehman leading the special prayer.
Past crashes
In the last such crash reported, five personnel had died in September 2025 after an army helicopter crashed in Gilgit-Baltistan’s Diamer district after a “technical fault”.
In August 2025, a rescue helicopter of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government crashed in the Mohmand district due to bad weather, killing two pilots and three crew members.
The second half of 2022 saw two crashes of army helicopters.
On August 2, the wreckage of a Pakistan Army helicopter was found in Balochistan’s Lasbela district a day after it went missing. All six people on board, including Commander 12 Corps Lieutenant General Sarfraz Ali, embraced martyrdom in the incident.
The next month, six army officials, including two majors, were martyred after a helicopter crashed during a flying mission near Khost in Balochistan’s Harnai.
In December 2021, two pilots lost their lives after an army aviation helicopter crashed at Siachen in GB’s Ghanche district.
A year before that, four personnel embraced martyrdom when an army helicopter crashed due to technical reasons during a casualty evacuation in GB’s Astore district.
A 2015 crash of a military helicopter near KP’s Mansehra claimed the lives of all twelve on board.
