A Pakistan army helicopter carrying dignitaries heading to the inauguration of a new ski lift at a ski centre in the north of the country has crashed, killing seven people, including the Philippine and Norwegian ambassadors.
Pakistani government officials say the crash was caused by a technical faulty whilst the Pakistani Taliban claimed the helicopter was brought down by them in an attack using an anti aircraft missile.
The wives of the Indonesian and Malaysian ambassadors, two pilots and a crew member were also killed in the crash.
The helicopter was heading for a ceremony to mark the completion of a chairlift, the country’s second, donated by Switzerland as the Pakistan Air Force controlled ski area of Naltar. It had 17 people on board and is reported to have hit a school when it crashed, although that was empty at the time. The ambassadors of Poland and the Netherlands were also reported to be amongst those onboard but were injured.
Pakistan has several rudimentary ski areas, most controlled by the military. The main commercial ski area of Malam Jabba in the Swat Valley was built over a lengthy period in the 1990s with donations of ski lifts (including Pakistan’s first chairlift) from Austria, but was destroyed by the Taliban in 2007 when they occupied the area. Although the Taliban were driven out in 2009 the area remains dangerous but has recently brought in international developers with the aim of installing a new lift within the next year.
There is thought to be great potential for wintersports in Pakistan due to its mountainous terrain and the lack of leisure facilities for the country’s 180 million population.