Pakistan (BBN)-An army helicopter has crashed in a mountainous part of northern Pakistan, killing seven people, including the Philippine and Norwegian ambassadors.
It crashed during an emergency landing in the Gilgit-Baltistan territory, reports BBC.
The wives of the Indonesian and Malaysian envoys, two pilots and a crew member also died. They were to attend the opening of a tourism project.
Two senior Pakistani ministers said the crash was down to a technical fault.
Earlier, the Pakistani Taliban said they were behind the attack.
But Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, and Foreign Minister Azez Chaudhury said there appeared to have been technical problems with the helicopter.
‘IN FLAMES’
The helicopter hit a building belonging to an army school in Gilgit-Baltistan.
The building caught fire but no children were in class at the time, a senior official told the AFP news agency.
Local resident Sher Ahmed told the news agency that there had been a heavy security presence in the area ahead of the visit.
I was in my garden with my family watching the helicopters arriving when we heard a loud explosion and then the school building was in flames,” he said.
It was one of three helicopters ferrying a delegation of foreign diplomats for the inauguration of the chairlift project.
Construction was reportedly completed more than six months ago, but the inauguration was delayed due to Prime Minister Sharif’s other commitments.
It is the second chairlift to be built in a Pakistani ski resort. The first, which is at Pakistan’s oldest ski resort of Malam Jabba in the Swat valley, was destroyed by the Taliban.
Gilgit-Baltistan is famous for its natural beauty and the main city of Gilgit is seen as a gateway to the Karakoram and Himalayan mountain ranges.
It is also a strategically important autonomous region bordering China, Afghanistan and Indian-held Kashmir.
There have been a number of crashes involving the same model of military helicopter in Pakistan in recent years.