TWO foreign ambassadors, including a Filipino, were among seven killed in a helicopter crash on Friday, May 8, in northern Pakistan during an emergency landing.
The military helicopter was due to inspect a new tourism project in the mountainous northern region of Gilgit-Baltistan, when the MI-17 aircraft crashed into a school in Gilgit and caught fire. Children were off from school and had no class at the time, officials said.
It was one of three helicopters ferrying a delegation of foreign diplomats for the formal inauguration of a ski chairlift project built by the air force, meant for Pakistan tourists.
Norwegian Ambassador Leif Larsen and Philippine Ambassador Domingo Lucenario Jr. and the wives of the Indonesian and Malaysian envoys, Habibah Mahmud and Heri Listyawati Burhan Muhammad, were all killed in the crash. Two pilots and a crew member also died, according to military spokesman Asim Bajwa. An official in Gilgit said nine people on the ground were also killed.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was also traveling to the region on a separate aircraft when the accident happened, his office said. Sharif immediately returned to the capital city Islamabad.
The Pakistani Taliban said they were behind the attack, but the government dismissed any suggestion of foul play. Initial information indicated the accidental cause was a technical fault, and the foreign secretary also said technical problems caused the crash.
“Apparently its engine failed,” Foreign Secretary Azaz Chaudhry said. “It was not terrorism.”
Pakistani Taliban militants said they brought down the helicopter with a shoulder-launched missile, hoping to bring down Sharif’s aircraft. However, witnesses on the ground and in other helicopters reported nothing to indicate any firing.
“Nawaz Sharif and his allies are our prime targets,” Taliban spokesman Muhammad Khurasani said in an emailed statement.
Bajwa said the ambassadors of Poland and the Netherlands were among the injured. Other world leaders were also on board the flight, including the ambassadors of South Africa, Lebanon, and Romania. The Foreign Office said a total of 17 people were on board, 11 foreigners and six Pakistanis.
“The bodies are so badly torched, they can’t be identified,” said Sibtain Ahmed, the home secretary of Gilgit-Baltistan.
A decorated, honorable career
In a statement from the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs, Domingo Lucenario Jr., 54, was remembered as a decorated “career diplomat” who had worked out of Germany, Australia, Hong Kong, Afghanistan and Kenya. He became the official ambassador for the Philippines in 2009, and his jurisdiction included 12 African countries. In 2013, Lucenario became the Philippine ambassador to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgystan, and Tajikistan. He was also the nation’s permanent representative to the United Nations Environment Program and the UN Human Settlement Program.
“Ambassador Lucenario was one of the few career Filipino diplomats who had the rare distinction of having been awarded by the President of the Philippines with three major presidential awards [the Order of Sikatuna Award, Order of Lakandula Award, and Gawad Mabini Award],” the department said. “…The Department of Foreign Affairs offers its deepest sympathies and condolences to the family of Ambassador Lucenario at this time of mourning.”
Lucenario is survived by his wife, lawyer Nida Arada, and their three children.
Prime Minister Sharif also issued a statement of condolence, expressing his solace to the relatives of those killed, and asking health officials to provide the best medical treatment to the survivors.
“The Prime Minister has extended heartfelt condolences on the sad demise of ambassadors and spouses who died in the helicopter crash,” the statement read. “He also expressed concern over the injured diplomats and prayed for their speedy recovery.”
The helicopter crash is one of the most tragic aviation disasters for the Pakistani military in decades.
(With reports from Reuters, CNN, Bustle, BBC)
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Weekend May 9-12, 2015 Sec. A pg.1)
