Chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur said that the crash took place in the Pandiyali area of Mohmand district due to bad weather. A helicopter carrying a rescue mission in monsoon-hit northern Pakistan crashed on Friday, killing five crew on board, citing a statement from the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur said that the crash took place in the Pandiyali area of Mohmand district due to bad weather.
“An MI-17 helicopter of the provincial government, carrying relief goods for rain-affected areas of Bajaur, crashed in the Pandiyali area of Mohmand district due to bad weather,” Gandapur said in a statement. “Five crew members, including two pilots, were killed.”
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s MI-17 helicopter had taken off from Peshawar for Bajaur when contact was lost over Mohmand tribal district.
Authorities said it remains to be determined whether the crash was caused solely by weather or other factors. A team of rescue officials has been dispatched to the crash site.
Heavy monsoon rains have triggered landslides and flash floods across northern Pakistan. At least 164 people have been killed in the region in the last 24 hours.
The majority of the deaths, 150, were recorded in mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to the National Disaster Management Authority.
Pakistan’s meteorological department has also issued a heavy rain alert for the northwest, urging people to avoid “unnecessary exposure to vulnerable areas”.
In 2022, monsoon floods submerged a third of the country and killed 1,700 people.
