ISLAMABAD — A Pakistani military helicopter carrying diplomats to the north of the country made a crash landing on Friday, killing the ambassadors of Norway and the Philippines as well as the wives of the Indonesian and Malaysian ambassadors, an army spokesman said.
Two pilots and a crew member were also killed when the helicopter carrying dignitaries made the crash landing in the Naltar valley, where Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was to inaugurate a chairlift at a ski resort.
The ambassadors of the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Malaysia and Indonesia were injured in the crash, said Pakistani army spokesman Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa.
Two more helicopters flying dignitaries to the event landed safely, he said.
A plane carrying Sharif to the area diverted to Islamabad after the crash, the prime minister’s office said.
The Pakistani Taliban said in an emailed statement that its militants had targeted the helicopter with an anti-aircraft missile. The claim could not be verified.
Pakistan’s Defence Ministry said a technical fault in the tail brought down the helicopter.
“It was a technical fault, not sabotage,” Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said.
The Norwegian Foreign Ministry confirmed that ambassador Leif H. Larsen was killed in the crash.
“We have been informed by Pakistani authorities that it was an accident,” Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg told Norwegian television.
The helicopter crashed at a school, which had been shut down for the event, police official Azhar Hussain told dpa.
Sharif expressed condolences to the families of the victims and declared a day of national mourning.
The Pakistani army launched an offensive against militants in the north last year.
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