ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The six-member crew of the Punjab government helicopter that went missing in Afghanistan earlier this month has been recovered and arrived in Islamabad on Saturday, the Foreign Office confirmed.
In a statement issued by the Foreign Office on Saturday, it said that the crew members which also included a Russian navigator were released in an inter-tribe exchange on the Pakistan-Afghan border in the Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA).
The statement that the members were further transported from FATA to Islamabad by a helicopter. It added that all crew members are safe and in good health.
Following were the members:
- Captain Safdar Hussain (Chief pilot)
- Captain Safdar Ashraf
- Captain Muhammad Shafiq-ur-Rehman (First Officer)
- Nasir Mahmood (Flight Engineer)
- Muhammad Kausar (Crew Chief)
- Sergei Sevastianov (Russian navigator)
On August 4, the Punjab government Mi-17 helicopter made an emergency landing in Afghanistan’s eastern Logar province while flying to Russia for maintenance. Eventually, the Afghan Taliban took the crew members including a Russian navigator hostage.
Last week, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif also called the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and asked him to help in organizing a safe and early recovery of the hostages.
