Two Pakistan Army pilots were martyred on Monday when their Mushshak trainer aircraft crashed near Nawan Killi on the outskirts of Quetta, the military’s media wing confirmed.
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the aircraft, belonging to Pakistan Army Aviation, went down during a routine training mission in the afternoon after developing a technical fault. Both men on board died in the crash.
The martyred officers were identified as Major Husnain Shehzad Humayun, who was serving as the instructor pilot, and Captain Abdul Samad, a student pilot. The ISPR statement said both embraced martyrdom in the unfortunate incident.
The Mushshak is a single-engine basic trainer built by the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex at Kamra and is flown by both the army and the air force for initial flight training. The aircraft type has been involved in a small number of accidents over the years, including a fatal crash near Gujrat in 2020 in which an instructor and a trainee pilot were killed.
No further details about the circumstances of Monday’s crash were immediately available, and the military did not say whether an inquiry had been ordered. The incident took place in an area outside the provincial capital, and there were no immediate reports of casualties on the ground.
The crash adds to a difficult period for military aviation in Balochistan, which has seen several fatal helicopter accidents in recent years, including the 2022 Lasbela crash that killed the Quetta corps commander and five others.
