Pakistan army helicopter crash kills five

An army helicopter crashed in northern Pakistan on Monday, killing all five people on board, the military said.

"The helicopter was on routine training flying when it developed (a) technical fault and crashed," it said in a statement.

Two pilots, two crew and a flight engineer on board the MI-17 died.

A police official in the district had earlier said that the helicopter crashed during a test landing on a newly proposed helipad.

The helicopter came down in a mountainous tourist area in Diamer district, in Gilgit Baltistan around 10:00 am (0500 GMT).

It comes just weeks after a government MI-17 helicopter crashed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province while carrying out flood relief efforts, killing all five crew and pilots.

There have been several deadly helicopter crashes in Pakistan in recent years, including in 2022 when five servicemen and one of the army's top commanders were killed when their helicopter crashed during flood relief operations in southwestern Balochistan province.

Agence France-Presse