Aircraft Escorting Musharraf Crashes
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
MUJHOI, Pakistan — One of three helicopters escorting President Musharraf crashed in Pakistan’s portion of Kashmir today, killing four people on board, but the president was unhurt, officials said.
An army spokesman, Major General Waheed Arshad, blamed a “technical fault” for the crash of the military helicopter and said General Musharraf had already reached his destination when the accident occurred.
The crash revives concern about the safety of the American-allied general who has survived several assassination attempts. It happened two days after he secured a provisional victory in a controversial presidential election.
General Musharraf traveled to Kashmir today to commemorate the second anniversary of the October 8, 2005, earthquake that killed nearly 80,000 people. The helicopter crashed in Mujhoi, about 12 miles south of Muzaffarabad, the main town in Pakistan’s portion of the disputed Himalayan territory.
The president’s spokesman, Rashid Qureshi, was among at least five injured passengers. He suffered a burned right hand but was in stable condition, officials said.
General Arshad said the dead included an army brigadier, two soldiers and a cameraman for Pakistan Television. Two pilots and a technician escaped unhurt, he said.
