MARDAN: A trainer aircraft of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) crashed near Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Mardan city on Monday, resulting in the martyrdom of both pilots on board, according to a statement issued by the military’s media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).
The ISPR said the aircraft was conducting a routine training sortie when the accident occurred. The crash claimed the lives of Flight Lieutenant Muhammad Qasim Abdullah of the PAF and Lieutenant Taha Abbasi of the Pakistan Navy, both of whom embraced martyrdom.
According to the statement, Air Headquarters has constituted a board of inquiry to determine the cause of the crash.
The ISPR added that Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir, along with the services chiefs and all ranks of the Pakistan Armed Forces, expressed profound sorrow over the loss of the two officers and extended their condolences to the bereaved families.
The incident comes less than a week after another military aviation accident. On Wednesday, an Mi-17 helicopter of the Pakistan Army Aviation crashed near Muzaffarabad during take-off after developing a technical fault, according to the ISPR.
The military said all personnel aboard the helicopter embraced martyrdom and there were no survivors. A board of inquiry was also ordered to establish the exact technical cause of that crash.
Military aviation accidents have claimed several lives in recent years. In September last year, five personnel were killed when an army helicopter crashed in Gilgit-Baltistan’s Diamer district after suffering a technical fault.
A month earlier, a rescue helicopter operated by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government crashed in Mohmand district due to adverse weather conditions, killing two pilots and three crew members.
Pakistan also witnessed two army helicopter crashes during the latter half of 2022. On August 2 of that year, 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.
The following month, six army personnel, including two majors, were martyred when a helicopter crashed during an operational mission near Khost in Balochistan’s Harnai district.
In December 2021, two pilots lost their lives after an army aviation helicopter crashed at Siachen in Gilgit-Baltistan’s Ghanche district.
A year earlier, four military personnel embraced martyrdom when an army helicopter crashed due to technical reasons while carrying out a casualty evacuation mission in Gilgit-Baltistan’s Astore district.
One of the deadliest military helicopter accidents occurred in 2015, when a crash near Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Mansehra district claimed the lives of all 12 people on board.