PM, Field Marshal attend funeral of Army pilots martyred in Quetta plane crash

The funeral prayers were attended by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Field Marshal Asim Munir, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and other officials. The two pilots were identified by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing, as Major Husnain Shehzad Humayun, an instructor pilot, and Captain Abdul Samad, a student pilot.

Their deaths prompted condolences from the country’s top leadership, with officials expressing sympathy for the families following the fatal incident., the Mushshak training aircraft crashed around midday on October 12 near Nawan Killi. The military’s media wing said a technical fault caused the accident, which claimed the lives of both pilots.

The aircraft was being used for training when the incident occurred. The ISPR identified the officers who died in the crash but provided no further details in the statement. President Asif Ali Zardari expressed grief over the deaths of the two pilots and extended condolences to their bereaved families.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also conveyed his sympathies, prayed for the elevation of the officers’ ranks and asked for their families to be granted strength to bear the loss. The crash follows other military aviation accidents reported in Pakistan this year.

In June, a Pakistan Army Aviation Mi-17 helicopter crashed near Muzaffarabad during take-off,. Earlier that month, a Pakistan Air Force aircraft crashed during a routine training flight in Mardan.