Pakistan: At least 19 killed as army aircraft crashes into residential area

Footage on social media shows plane, which was on training flight, flying very low and suddenly coming down

At least 19 people have died after a Pakistani military aircraft crashed into a village near Rawalpindi.

Most of those killed were on the ground, officials said, after the plane exploded in a residential area and set fire to homes.

Footage on social media showed the plane, which was on a training flight, flying very low but it suddenly came down before dawn on Tuesday morning.

In a statement, the Pakistani military said 14 civilians were killed and five soldiers, including the plane’s two army pilots. It had no information about the possible cause of the crash.

At the scene of the disaster in Mora Kalu village, troops had cordoned off a large residential area where damaged homes, debris and still-burning fires were visible. With rescue efforts over, investigators searched for items of plane debris.

Men and women who lost their relatives in the crash were seen wailing and crying as rescuers put charred bodies of the victims into ambulances, the Associated Press reported.

Farooq Butt, an official at the state-run emergency service, said an additional 15 people were injured. Rescue officials said the death toll could rise since some of those injured were critical.

“We have shifted all the bodies and injured persons to hospitals,” he said. “Most of the victims received burn injuries and children are among the dead.”

Mohammad Mustafa, sobbing near a badly damaged home, said: “My sister, her husband and their three children were killed when the plane crashed into their home.”

Prime minister Imran Khan and Pakistan’s president, Arif Alvi, both released statements expressing their grief and sorrow for those killed or injured in the incident.

Hours later, a funeral for the pilots was held in Rawalpindi, attended by army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, senior army officers and relatives.

Rawalpindi is a major garrison city adjacent to the capital, Islamabad, and some 40 miles from the disputed Kashmir border with India.

Pakistan’s military has been on maximum alert since February, when India launched an airstrike inside Pakistani territory allegedly targeting a militant group blamed for organising the Pulwama suicide bombing that killed 40 Indian troops in Indian-administered Kashmir.

In retaliation Pakistan said it shot down two Indian air force planes. One Indian pilot was captured and later released amid signs of an easing of tensions.

Additional reporting by agencies