QUETTA: The funeral prayers of two army officers who were martyred, besides four others, in a helicopter crash were offered in Quetta Cantonment’s Shola ground on Wednesday.

Commander XII Corps (Quetta) Lt Gen Sarfraz Ali and Commander Engineers XII Corps Brig Muhammad Khalid were on a relief mission when their chopper was reported missing around midnight on Monday.

The military announced the next day the helicopter had crashed due to bad weather in Musa Goth, a hilly area in Winder town of Lasbela district, leaving all six army officials on board martyred.

The four other martyred servicemen were Brig Amjad Hanif, Brig Muhammad Khalid, Major Saeed Ahmed, Major Muhammad Talha Manan and Naik Mudassir Fayyaz.

Lt Gen Ali’s body was flown to Quetta after retrieving it from the crash site on Tuesday. The bodies of other martyrs were sent to their hometowns.

Chief of the Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, Balochistan Acting Governor Mir Jan Muhammad Khan Jamali, Chief Minister Mir Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo, provincial ministers and senior military officers attended the funeral prayers.

The army chief visited the families of the six martyred officers as well as that of Lt Col Laiq Baig Mirza, who was kidnapped in Ziarat and later shot dead by militants.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2022