At least 22 killed as Pakistani military helicopter crashes in Kashmir

At least 22 military personnel were killed when a Pakistani army helicopter crashed in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, security sources told news agencies, as the region holds mass ceremonial funerals for the victims.

The Russian-built Mi-17 transport helicopter went down near the regional capital of Muzaffarabad on Wednesday. Videos showed thick plumes of black smoke billowing from behind a cluster of buildings immediately after the crash.

The helicopter “crashed … during take-off due to a technical fault,” said the military’s media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

The crash killed all personnel on board, according to the military, which has not confirmed the number. However, sources told the Reuters, Anadolu and Associated Press news agencies that the death toll was 22.

Security sources told Reuters that the dead included one colonel, two other major-rank officers and 19 soldiers. They received a formal military burial on Thursday, with flag-draped coffins carried by an artillery unit stationed in Kashmir.

The crash happened during a period of heightened security in the highly sensitive border region.

The local government recently imposed strict movement restrictions following violent clashes between security forces and a newly banned alliance of civil society groups, which left at least 11 people dead over the weekend.

Officials strongly rejected any connection between the local unrest and the aviation disaster.

“A board of inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the exact technical cause of the accident,” the ISPR added, noting that Chief of the Army Staff, Field Marshal Asim Munir, and all ranks “express deep grief over the tragic loss of precious lives.”

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed deep grief and sorrow, state-run APP reported.

The army’s aviation wing has long relied on Soviet-designed Mi-17 helicopters as transport workhorses for high-altitude deployments, although the fleet has suffered occasional fatal accidents in Pakistan’s rugged northern terrain over the past decade

Over the years, Pakistan has refurbished and overhauled 22 of its Mi-17 helicopters with assistance from the United States.