A Pakistani army helicopter which reportedly went missing earlier on Wednesday was found crashed into a river in eastern Pakistan, sources told Xinhua.
The wreckage of the crashed helicopter has been lifted by an army MI-17 helicopter from the Chenab River near the Wazirabad area in Pakistan's eastern province of Punjab late on Wednesday evening, said the sources.
Chenab River is the third largest river in Pakistan, which runs up from northeast Punjab and merges with the country's second largest Jhelum River in central Punjab.
But the bodies of the two people on board, a pilot and a training officer, have not been recovered yet, they said, adding that the search operation for the two missing persons is still underway.
The ill-fated helicopter reportedly went missing at about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday morning while on a training flight over the Wazirabad area, a district lying some 100 kilometers north of Lahore, capital of Punjab province.
The reason of the crash is not known.
Details about the crashed helicopter are also not known. The army did not issue any statement following the incident.
This is the second crash of Pakistani army aircraft over the last week. On May 17, two Pakistan Air Force trainer planes crashed near a residential area after bumping into each other while on a routine training mission in the country's northern Nowshera area, leaving all the four pilots on the planes killed and five people on the ground wounded. |