Pakistan’s first female fighter pilot to die on duty crashed after a “serious in-flight emergency” forced her to eject from an aircraft, air force officials said.
Marium Mukhtiar abandoned the F7 fighter jet along with her co-pilot towards the end of a routine training exercise in central Pakistan.
A spokesman for the Pakistan air force said on Tuesday that the death of one of the country’s few female pilots may have occurred because she was forced to eject at low altitude after staying in the aircraft in order to clear a populated area near the town of Kundian, in Punjab province.
“She was losing height so when she ejected, she didn’t have appropriate height that is necessary for ejection,” the spokesman said. Her co-pilot, squadron leader Saqib Abbasi, survived with minor injuries, possibly because he managed to eject seconds earlier, they added.
Mukhtiar’s death was declared a martyrdom or shahadat by the PAF, which said both pilots “handled the serious emergency with professionalism and courage and tried to save the ill-fated aircraft until the very last minute”.
Mukhtiar “embraced shahadat and became the first lady pilot from PAF to attain this great honour,” it said in a statement.
Although women were first recruited to the PAF in 2003, it was not until 2006 that seven were able to become fighter pilots. The PAF spokesman said there are currently about 30 women serving in the force. The crash is the latest deadly accident for the Pakistani military.
In May, a military helicopter carrying diplomats to inspect a tourism project crashed, killing seven people, including the ambassadors of Norway and Philippines.
In August, 12 people died when another military helicopter being used as an air ambulance came down near the northern district of Mansehra.
