PULI ALAM/ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani government helicopter crash-landed in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, officials said, with Afghan media and officials reporting that all seven people on board were taken hostage by the Taliban.
Officials at the Pakistan Foreign Office in Islamabad confirmed the crash-landing, adding that the helicopter was bought by the Punjab government from Uzbekistan and was being taken from there for overhauling.
The insurgents have not so far commented on the incident in Azra district in the restive province of Logar.
"An Mi-17 transport helicopter belonging to the Punjab government was scheduled to fly to Russia for repair. We think the same chopper crash-landed in Logar," Akhtar Munir, a spokesman for the Pakistani embassy in Kabul, told news agency AFP.
"We don't know anything about the fate of those on-board or why it crash-landed."
The local district governor Hamidullah Hamid said seven people on board had been taken hostage by Taliban insurgents.
"They have been taken to an unknown location," he said.
The helicopter caught fire after it crashed, said Logar governor's spokesman Salim Saleh.
Further details about the people on board the aircraft were unavailable.
COAS calls RSM commander in Afghanistan
Meanwhile, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif called General John Nicholson, Commander Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan, and asked him to help recover the crew of the chopper that crash landed in Logar, according to the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR).
"Gen. Nicholson assured all possible help in this regard," said the ISPR spokesman Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa on Twitter.
He stated that the Afghan government and the Afghan National Army (ANA) authorities have also been contacted for necessary assistance in the recovery of crew members.