A helicopter crash in northern Pakistan has claimed the lives of two ambassadors and the wives of two other ambassadors.

Army spokesman Major General Asim Bajwa said on his Twitter account Friday the ambassadors to Pakistan from the Philippines and Norway, and the wives of the ambassadors of Malaysia and Indonesia were killed when the helicopter crash landed in Naltar Valley. Two pilots were also killed.

Officials say the aircraft was carrying six Pakistanis and 11 foreigners.

Bajwa said the ambassadors of Poland and the Netherlands were among the survivors who have varying degrees of injuries. 

The helicopter was on route to the city of Gilgit, where Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was to attend a public ceremony to inaugurate the newly installed chairlift at a ski resort. Sharif was in his own plane on route to Gilgit when the “tragic news” was conveyed to him, according to a statement from the prime minister’s office. It said Sharif returned to Islamabad early in the wake of the crash.

Sharif, in his statement, expressed his “deep grief and sorrow over the tragic incident” and said he “extended heartfelt condolences to those who lost their lives in this incident.”

The Pakistani Talban issued a statement claiming they had shot down the helicopter with an anti-aircraft missile. It was impossible to immediately verify the claim, and unclear if it was merely an opportunistic attempt to claim responsibility for an unrelated incident. The Pakistani military did not immediately respond to queries about the Taliban claim.

Some material for this report came from the Associated Press.
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