LAYYAH/MULTAN: A Punjab Rangers helicopter caught fire in mid-air and plummeted into a Indus River Wednesday, Killing all four people on board including DG Rangers and his son.”The helicopter crashed into the Indus River. There were four people on board, including the director general of the Punjab Rangers, Major General Mohammad Nawaz,” military spokesman Major Farooq Feroz said.DG Rangers’ ADC, who also happened to be his son also perished in the accident.”There are no reports of any survivors,” he said. One body had been recovered and rescue teams had located the wreckage, he added. 4 persons including Maj Gen Muhammad Nawaz DG Rangers Punjab, 2 captains and one Col were on board the helicopter. Lt Col Amir Abbas who hailed from Sialkot was pilot of the helicopter.
“The cause of the crash is being investigated. It appears to have been a technical fault, but the weather was also bad,” he said. As per reports received from Layyah and Kot Sultan, helicopter took off from Dera Ghazi Khan. It was on its way to Peshawar on its usual mission when pilot Lt Col Aamir Abbas contacted control tower at 10.12 am saying that he was now heading towards Multan due to bad weather. After 10 minutes the contact of the pilot became suspended with control tower.Residents of Pakheri Ahmad Khan near Kot Sultan told the police that a helicopter was flying over Indus River when it caught fire all of a sudden and crashed into the river.Tail and tool box of the helicopter have been extracted from the river. Sources told that bodies were feared to have been swept away due to fast river currents. – Onlinenews
