ISLAMABAD, 17 October 2005 — Pakistani military said one of its relief helicopters had crashed in bad weather, killing all six people aboard. The MI-17 transport helicopter was returning home late Saturday after dropping off relief workers in Bagh, said army spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan.
“There were six people on board. They are all dead. All those killed were military personnel,” Sultan said.
Three martyred officers have been identified as senior pilot Lt. Col. Roghani, senior pilot Capt. Rahim and Maj. Umar Baig Mirza.
The cause of the crash was suspected to be either the weather or a technical malfunction, he said.
It was the first aid helicopter to crash since the beginning of the relief operation to save the millions of destitute from the Oct. 8 earthquake that killed more than 38,000 people in Pakistan and Kashmir.
Helicopter flights were all but called off yesterday after a night of heavy rain that brought fresh misery to the many survivors who lack even simple tents to protect them.
The Mi-17 went missing at around noon on Saturday northeast of Bagh in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir. The military found the wreckage including the bodies of four military officers and two technicians around 1:30 am, Sultan said.
“The crash will not affect the relief operation,” Sultan later said on state television, notwithstanding the cancellations due to the weather. Pakistan has been facing a shortage of helicopters to airlift relief goods to the devastated areas spread over more than 20,000 square km, government leaders and military officials have said.
So far only four countries — the United States, Germany, Japan and impoverished neighbor Afghanistan — have responded to Islamabad’s request for helicopters, officials said.
“There are 54 helicopters in operation currently, including 15 helicopters from three countries, the United States, Germany and Afghanistan,” Sultan said.
A US Embassy official said 10 US helicopters were in operation with more than 20 that are in the pipeline possibly coming this week.
Three helicopters from Japan arrived Saturday and yesterday near Islamabad and will be in service soon after consultations with the Pakistani air force, a Japanese embassy spokesman said.
Helicopters are vital in a relief operation where roads and communication links were snapped by the quake. But the Himalayan terrain is so rugged that some regions can only be reached on foot or donkey.
The fleet, which now includes Chinook, Black Hawk, CH-53, MH-53, Puma and Bell-412 choppers, flew over 900 sorties in the quake hit areas in the first week since the quake, the Pakistani military said.
In a race against time, the choppers delivered tons of relief goods to the quake-hit areas and rescued more than 6,000 injured people, it said.
— Additional input from AFP
