The military helicopter crashed into a school with children inside and set the building ablaze.
Islamabad:
Pakistan's military brought the bodies of two ambassadors and two ambassadors' wives to Islamabad today, a day after they were killed in a helicopter crash in Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) as they where inspecting a tourism project.
The ambassadors of Norway and the Philippines and the wives of the Malaysian and Indonesian envoys were killed when the helicopter they were on crashed.
Three Pakistani crewmen were also killed and several diplomats were injured when the Mi-17 helicopter came down on a school in a valley lined by pine forests and overlooked by snow-peaked mountains. No children were in the school at the time.
The government says the aircraft suffered engine failure, dismissing as bogus a Pakistani Taliban claim that the militants shot it down.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was also going to the inauguration of a ski lift and was on a separate helicopter when the accident happened.
Pakistani servicemen formed a guard of honour to receive the coffins, draped in national flags and bedecked with wreaths, as soldiers carried them from the aircraft that brought them from the north. The ceremony was broadcast live on television.
Diplomats in black and the military's top brass, including army chief General Raheel Sharif, were on hand and the commanders saluted as the coffins were carried by. Sharif put his arm around a sobbing boy among the diplomats.
Pakistan declared a day of mourning and Sharif has ordered cabinet ministers to accompany the bodies of the four foreign victims to their countries.
The government said 17 people were on board and among the injured were the ambassadors of Poland and the Netherlands.
Witnesses on the ground, and in other helicopters on the trip, reported nothing to indicate any firing.
"This may be more a statement of desperation from them to attract international media attention, than a real statement of responsibility," Boston University professor of international relations and Pakistan expert Adil Najam said of the Taliban claim.
The Mi-17 is considered a reliable, no-frills helicopter, first built by the Russians for use in hot and high conditions in Asia.
The Pakistani military is generally seen as maintaining its equipment well though media have reported four other Mi-17 crashes in Pakistan in the last 11 years.
A military team is investigating the crash.
The ambassadors of Norway and the Philippines and the wives of the Malaysian and Indonesian envoys were killed when the helicopter they were on crashed.
Three Pakistani crewmen were also killed and several diplomats were injured when the Mi-17 helicopter came down on a school in a valley lined by pine forests and overlooked by snow-peaked mountains. No children were in the school at the time.
The government says the aircraft suffered engine failure, dismissing as bogus a Pakistani Taliban claim that the militants shot it down.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was also going to the inauguration of a ski lift and was on a separate helicopter when the accident happened.
Pakistani servicemen formed a guard of honour to receive the coffins, draped in national flags and bedecked with wreaths, as soldiers carried them from the aircraft that brought them from the north. The ceremony was broadcast live on television.
Diplomats in black and the military's top brass, including army chief General Raheel Sharif, were on hand and the commanders saluted as the coffins were carried by. Sharif put his arm around a sobbing boy among the diplomats.
Pakistan declared a day of mourning and Sharif has ordered cabinet ministers to accompany the bodies of the four foreign victims to their countries.
The government said 17 people were on board and among the injured were the ambassadors of Poland and the Netherlands.
Witnesses on the ground, and in other helicopters on the trip, reported nothing to indicate any firing.
"This may be more a statement of desperation from them to attract international media attention, than a real statement of responsibility," Boston University professor of international relations and Pakistan expert Adil Najam said of the Taliban claim.
The Mi-17 is considered a reliable, no-frills helicopter, first built by the Russians for use in hot and high conditions in Asia.
The Pakistani military is generally seen as maintaining its equipment well though media have reported four other Mi-17 crashes in Pakistan in the last 11 years.
A military team is investigating the crash.
© Thomson Reuters 2015
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