Six killed, nine injured as chartered helicopter crashes in North Waziristan

ISLAMABAD: At least six people were killed and nine others critically wounded as a chartered helicopter crashed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's North Waziristan district on Saturday.

The copter belonged to the Mari Petroleum Company, a public limited company.

The company's spokesperson said at least 15 people, including three foreign pilots, were flying in the chartered Mi-8 helicopter.

The incident, as per the official, took place because of technical errors near an oil field and has nothing to do with nothing to do with the security situation.

The deceased persons included three foreign pilots and three others while nine of the travellers got wounded, it added.

Providing details of the incident, the spokesperson said that the ill-fated aircraft was providing personal transportation in the Shewa Waziristan block.

The injured persons were transferred to a nearby hospital and relief operations, by the Pakistan Army and others, the statement added.

Geo News learnt from sources that the three foreign pilots are from Russia and that the wounded have been shifted to Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Thal.

The accident, the sources added, occurred after the copter suffered technical difficulty as soon as it took off and met the fatal accident after its tail rotor hit the ground during an emergency landing.

Meanwhile, an investigation has been initiated by Mari Petroleum and relevant authorities into the unfortunate incident.

Helicopter crashes are not uncommon in Pakistan. In September last year, two Pakistan Navy officers and a soldier were martyred after their copter crashed in Balochistan's Gwadar.

The Pakistan Navy spokesperson revealed that the mishap happened due to a technical issue during training.

"As a result of the crash, two officers and one sailor of the Pakistan Navy embraced martyrdom," the spokesperson said, adding that the Pakistan Navy had initiated an investigation into the incident.