A Pakistan Air Force (PAF) trainer aircraft crashed during a routine training sortie near the northwestern city of Mardan on Monday, the army’s media wing said, killing both pilots on board and injuring three people.

The crash killed PAF’s Flight Lt. Muhammad Qasim Abdullah and Pakistan Navy’s Lt. Taha Abbasi, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.

“A board of inquiry has been constituted by Air Headquarters to ascertain the cause of accident,” the ISPR said.

It added that Chief of Defense Forces Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, services chiefs and all ranks within Pakistan Armed Forces expressed their deep grief over the loss of lives and extended their heartfelt condolences to families of the two pilots.

In a separate statement, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said three people had been injured in the crash.

“Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi also prayed for the speedy recovery of the three individuals injured in the accident,” the statement said.

Aircraft crashes during training missions are common in Pakistan. Authorities rarely release details of military training crashes and the investigation reports about the crashes are also not made public.

In 2019, 19 people died when a Pakistani military aircraft crashed into a residential area on the outskirts of the garrison city of Rawalpindi, most of them in their homes. In April 2020, a Pakistani fighter jet crashed during a routine training mission near the eastern city of Gujrat, killing both the instructor and the trainee pilot on board.

In 2022, a PAF plane crashed in the northwestern city of Peshawar while it was also on a training mission, killing the pilot and the co-pilot.