At least 17 people were killed when a small Pakistan Army plane crashed into a residential area in Rawalpindi city early on Tuesday, AFP reported.
“We have received 17 dead bodies including 12 civilians and five crew members,” rescue spokesperson Farooq Butt said. He added that 12 more people had been injured in the accident near the capital Islamabad.
An unidentified resident told AFP that the crash happened around 2 am. “I woke up to the sound of a huge explosion,” another resident, Mohammad Sadiq, was quoted as saying. “I stepped out of my house and saw huge flames and we rushed to the site.”
“People were screaming. We tried to help them but the flames were too high and the fire too intense, so we could not do anything,” he added. “The dead include seven members of one family and most of them were burned to death.”
The military said the aircraft was on a routine training flight when it crashed. However, it did not provide any cause for the accident.
Abdul Rehman, a doctor, said that at least three houses were badly damaged and the pilots’ bodies have been retrieved. The wreckage of the aircraft was visible alongside two small buildings. Rescue personnel had extinguished the fire caused by the crash and moved the injured to a local hospital.
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