The crew members of Pakistan Punjab government’s Mi 17 helicopter that had crash-landed in safely returned home on Saturday, officials said.
The crew members of Pakistan Punjab government’s Mi 17 helicopter that had crash-landed in safely returned home on Saturday, officials said.
Seven people were taken hostage by the Taliban militants after the helicopter crash-landed in Logar province on August 4. After being released by the Taliban on Friday, the crew members were handed over to the Pakistani authorities in Kurram Agency. The Pakistani authorities said the helicopter crashed while it was flying to Russia for maintenance and seven crew members, including a Russian navigator, were taken hostage by a group of militants. The Afghan authorities confirmed Pakistani authorities had requested to use the Afghan airspace for the flight of the Mi-17 to Uzbekistan for repair.
In a statement, Foreign Ministry spokesman Nafees Zakaria said the crew of Punjab government helicopter has been recovered and arrived in Islamabad on Saturday. “The crew was released in an inter-tribe exchange on the Pakistan-Afghan border in Fata.”
