PESHAWAR: Two pilots of the Pakistan Air Force were martyred when their FT-7PG aircraft crashed during landing at the PAF base Peshawar on Tuesday, a PAF spokesperson said.

“PAF reports with regret that FT-7PG aircraft, while recovering from a routine operational training mission, crashed during landing at Peshawar Air Base. Both the pilots embraced Shahadat in the tragic incident,” the spokesperson said in a statement released to media after the incident.

The air headquarters has ordered a board of inquiry to determine the cause of incident.

The statement does not name the martyred pilots and mention their ranks. Witnesses said that the aircraft crashed on the runway and burst into flames. A rescue operation was launched immediately. Thick black smoke was seen billowing from the aircraft.

This is worth mentioning that PAF and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) are jointly using the runway for defence and civil operations.

A Civil Aviation Authority official said that the crash landing did not affect flight operations at the base.

Published in Dawn, June 27th, 2018