Two Pakistani pilots were killed after a training aircraft crashed in the country’s southwest, Dawn reported, citing officials from the military on Monday. The crash occurred near Quetta, the capital of the southwestern Balochistan province, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations, the Pakistani military’s media wing.

Pakistani military says aircraft crashed due to technical fault

The Mushshak training aircraft, which belonged to the Pakistan Army’s aviation wing, crashed due to a "technical fault."

“Both pilots, Major Husnain Shehzad Humayun (Instructor Pilot) and Captain Abdul Samad (Student Pilot) embraced Shahadat (martyrdom) in the unfortunate crash,” the ISPR said in a statement. However, on social media, Pakistani users claim the aircraft was shot down by the Taliban forces-- a claim which is yet to be certified by the Pakistani military establishment.

The crash follows the killing of two Pakistani pilots in June this year after a Pakistan Air Force (PAF) aircraft crashed during a routine training sortie near the northwestern city of Mardan, according to the military.

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The ISPR said at the time that a board of inquiry had been constituted to ascertain the cause of the crash.

Aircraft crashes are a routine affair in Pakistan

Aircraft crashes during training missions are not uncommon in Pakistan. Authorities rarely release details of military training crashes,and the investigation reports about the crashes are also not made public.

In 2019, 19 people died when a Pakistani military aircraft crashed into a residential area on the outskirts of the garrison city of Rawalpindi, most of them in their homes. In April 2020, a Pakistani fighter jet crashed during a routine training mission near the eastern city of Gujrat, killing both the instructor and the trainee pilot on board.

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In 2022, a PAF plane crashed in the northwestern city of Peshawar while it was also on a training mission, killing the pilot and the co-pilot.

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