A crew of five died on Monday after an army helicopter crashed in Diamer District’s Chilas town in Gilgit-Baltistan after developing a “technical fault”, the military’s media wing said in a statement.

“On 1 Sep 25, at around 1000 hours, an MI-17 helicopter crash landed near Hudor village, approximately 12 kilometres away from Thakdas Cantonment,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in the statement. “The helicopter was on routine training flying when it developed a technical fault and crashed.”

It added that all crew members on board were martyred as a result of the crash.

The crew members were identified as Major Atif, who was the pilot in command, Major Faisal, the co-pilot, flight engineer Naib Subedar Maqbool, and crew chiefs Havaldar Jahangir and Naik Amir, according to the ISPR.

Earlier, Diamer Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Abdul Hameed, in a statement, had confirmed the incident, saying that the helicopter was conducting a test landing on a newly proposed helipad when it crashed.

He said that the Diamer police and rescue teams had reached the incident site to start the evacuation.

Separately, GB Chief Minister Haji Gulbar Khan, in a statement, said he had issued directions to impose an emergency at Chilas Hospital and ordered the immediate availability of medical staff.

He also expressed his condolences and paid tribute to the martyred personnel. “The sacrifice of the martyrs of the helicopter crash is a source of pride for the nation,” he said.

Earlier this month, a rescue helicopter crashed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bajaur district, killing two pilots and three crew members. The helicopter was dispatched with supplies following flash flooding in the region.

In 2024, at least six people died and eight others were critically injured after a helicopter of a petroleum company crashed near the Shewa oil field in North Waziristan.