Gilgit-Baltistan region, famed for its towering peaks, vast glaciers and pristine lakes, is facing a sharp decline in its prized trout population as climate change, habitat loss and overfishing threaten the species. Its icy, glacier-fed waters provide an ideal environment for the breeding of trout, one of Pakistan’s most prized freshwater fish. In recent years, however, the trout population has drastically reduced due to a slew of climate and human-induced factors, which include habitat fragmentation, pollution, construction of hydropower projects, and, on top of all, overfishing. According to experts and officials, the trout population has been slashed by 50 per cent over the past two decades. “Climate change-induced flash floods have been destroying spawning habitats of trout in most streams and tributaries by changing sediments and gravel size,” said Farasat Ali, an official of the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) Pakistan. Speaking to Anadolu , he said the local rivers and stre...
No survivors were reported after an Mi-17 helicopter of Pakistan Army Aviation crashed near Muzaffarabad on Wednesday during take-off “due to a technical fault”, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said. Rescue and recovery teams immediately reached the crash site. “All personnel on board embraced martyrdom. There were no survivors,” the ISPR said in a statement. “A board of inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the exact technical cause of the accident,” the military’s media affairs wing said. Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) and Chief of the Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir and all ranks of the army “express deep grief over the tragic loss of precious lives and extend heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families”, the ISPR said. In the last such incident reported, five personnel had died in September 2025 after an army helicopter crashed in Gilgit-Baltistan’s Diamer district after a “technical fault”. In August 2025, a rescue helicopter of ...