Islamabad/Lahore: Four persons, including a top official of the paramilitary Pakistan Rangers, were feared killed when a helicopter crashed into the Indus river in Punjab province on Wednesday.
Maj Gen Muhammad Nawaz, the provincial head of the Pakistan Rangers, his son Capt Asif Nawaz, a pilot and a technician were on board the helicopter when it crashed on Wednesday morning in bad weather, an official spokesman said.
The general's son was also his aide-de-camp. Rescue workers and divers pulled two mutilated bodies out of the river and one of them was identified as Asif Nawaz, officials told.
The officials said it was unlikely that anyone in the helicopter had survived the crash.
Footage on television showed rescue teams and local residents pulling out mangled parts of the helicopter from the water.
Witnesses said they had seen the helicopter on fire before it crashed.
The helicopter was going from Dera Ghazi Khan to Kashmore but the pilot decided to fly towards Multan after encountering bad weather, a Pakistan Rangers spokesman said.
The pilot lost control and the helicopter crashed near Kot Sultan village in Layyah district, he said.
Complete information about casualties would be provided only after the rescue operation is completed, the spokesman said.
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