[3][4][5] Government officials and international dignitaries were travelling to the Naltar Valley where the Prime Minister was hosting lunch for the members of the diplomatic corps.

The Pakistani dignitaries and international diplomats from 37 countries along with their families were on a three-day visit to Gilgit-Baltistan as part of the efforts of the Government to showcase the beauty and culture of Northern Areas.

[11] According to eyewitnesses, while the helicopter was landing, it lost control, began swinging, whirling and stalled mid-air, and dropped suddenly, crashing onto the school building roof.

[1] Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was on a plane and en route to Gilgit upon hearing of the incident, cancelled his trip and returned to Islamabad.

[15] Eight people died in the crash: the two pilots (Major Altamash and Major Faisal), a crew member (Naib Subedar Zakir),[15] three ambassadors – Leif Larsen of Norway, Domingo Lucenario of the Philippines, and Burhan Muhammad of Indonesia (the latter dying of his wounds on 19 May),[16] as well as the spouses of the high commissioner of Malaysia and ambassador of Indonesia, Habibah Mahmud, and Heri Listyawati Burhan Muhammad respectively.

[11] The ambassadors of Poland (Andrzej Ananicz), the Netherlands (Marcel de Vink), and Romania (Emilian Ion) and the high commissioners of Malaysia (Hasrul Sani Mujtabar) and South Africa (Mpendulo Jele) were among the wounded, suffering minor to critical injuries.

[20] One air force official explained how due to mountain ranges the region was an extremely difficult terrain for helicopter flights, adding "It was close to landing when it started to spin.

[1] Pakistani authorities ruled out the possibility of a terror attack, following up on a claim by the militant group Tehreek-e-Taliban that it had downed the helicopter with an anti-aircraft missile, stating its target to be the Prime Minister.

[5] This claim was promptly dismissed as "bogus" by foreign secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, who confirmed that the accident occurred due to a technical fault, adding that full security arrangements had been in place and Taliban groups did not operate in the region.

Nawaz Sharif directed four federal ministers, Abdul Qadir Baloch, Khurram Dastgir Khan, Rana Tanveer Hussain and Balighur Rehman to accompany the dead bodies with full honors on special flights to Norway, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia respectively.

[8] A day later, the injured and the bodies of the dead were transported by Pakistan Air Force aircraft back to the Nur Khan Airbase in Islamabad.

[24] In a special Condolence Meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after the incident, also attended by the diplomatic community in Islamabad, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif recommended bestowing the civil award Sitara-e-Pakistan on those who died.