At least 19 people including five crew members lost their lives when a Pakistan Army Aviation plane crashed in a residential area of Rawalpindi in the wee hours of Tuesday. According to Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), a small aircraft of Pakistan Army Aviation was on a routine training flight when the incident took place. As a result, five crew members including two officers (pilots) embraced martyrdom. The army personnel who were martyred in the plane crash include Lt Col Saqib, Lt Col Wasim, Naib Subedar Afzal, Hawaldar Ibne Amin and Hawaldar Rahmat, it said.
The plane crashed into a residential area of a private housing society near Mohra Kalu in the jurisdiction of Rawat police station. As a result of plane crash, around four to five houses were engulfed by the fire. Following the incident, army troops reached the scene and cordoned off the area.
Soon after the incident, the rescue teams of Pakistan Army and Rescue 1122 rushed to the area and controlled the blaze.
An emergency was declared in different hospitals of Rawalpindi and the injured were shifted there. The civilians who were martyred in the plane crash include Muhammad Jameel, Rubeena, Zuhaib, Pari Bibi, Fatima Bibi, Uzma Bibi, Bashir, Abdul Hafeez, Rahila Bibi, Faizan, Faiza, Abdur Rauf and Amna Bibi. The injured include Naveed Ahmed, Iraq, Fatima, Nadeem, Waseem, Muhammad Nazeer, Surayya, Shameem, and Muhammad Yousaf.
According to Rescue 1122 sources, the dead were shifted to Combined Military Hospital (CMH) while the injured were shifted to Holy Family Hospital. They said that all the bodies were badly burnt; therefore, the DNA test would be required for their identification.
Following the incident, Corps Commander Rawalpindi Lieutenant General Bilal Akbar visited the site where he was briefed by Pakistan Army officers about the crash.
President Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Imran Khan have expressed grief and sorrow over the loss of precious lives in the crash.
Agencies add: "We have taken 18 dead bodies to hospital... that included 13 civilians and five crew members," said local rescue spokesman Farooq Butt, adding that a further 12 people had been injured in the accident near the capital Islamabad.
"All the bodies are badly burned, so DNA tests are required for identification," he added.
One resident told AFP that the crash happened around 2am.
"I woke to the sound of a huge explosion. I stepped out of my house and saw huge flames and we rushed to the site," said Mohammad Sadiq.
"People were screaming. We tried to help them but the flames were too high and the fire too intense," he said, adding he believed seven members of one family were among the dead.
Another resident Ghulam Khan said he heard the plane as it buzzed over his house, adding the aircraft appeared to be on fire before it crashed.
"The sound was so scary," he added.
The military's information wing said the plane was on a routine training mission when the accident occurred, adding that rescue officials had extinguished the fire caused by the crash and moved the injured to a local hospital.
An AFP reporter at the scene said smoke was still rising from the wreckage and destroyed homes, while pieces of the plane were visible on a nearby roof.
Hours after the crash rescue workers could be seen combing through the smouldering site, gathering debris and inspecting the scene while ambulances swarmed the area.
Military officials had also cordoned off the crash site while a crowd of residents stood nearby, some of them sobbing.
Pakistan has a chequered aviation safety record, with frequent plane and helicopter crashes over the years.
In 2016, a Pakistan International Airlines plane burst into flames after one of its two turboprop engines failed while travelling from remote northern Pakistan to Islamabad, killing more than 40 people.
The deadliest air disaster on Pakistani soil was in 2010, when an Airbus 321 operated by private airline Airblue and flying from Karachi crashed into the hills outside Islamabad while coming in to land, killing all 152 on board.
"My sister, her husband and their three children were killed when the plane crashed into their home," said Mohammad Mustafa as he sobbed near his sister's badly damaged house. He said rescuers and troops quickly reached the area after the crash.
Abdul Rehman, a medical doctor, said at least three homes were badly damaged and that the pilots' bodies had been retrieved. Hours later, a funeral for the pilots was held in Rawalpindi, attended by army chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, senior army officers and relatives.
It was unclear when funerals for the other victims will be held. Rescue officials said the process of identifying the bodies was taking place at a military hospital. Pakistan's military has been on high alert since February.
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