The Mi17 aircraft encountered “technical issues” as it attempted to recover the bodies of people who had fallen into a river in the central Ghor province, Afghanistan’s Taliban-run ministry of national defence said in a statement.

The helicopter crashed as it attempted an emergency landing, the ministry added.

The Taliban, an Islamist movement, took over Afghanistan after the withdrawal of US-led foreign forces in 2021 and inherited a number of aircraft from the forces of the Republican regime it toppled.

It is not clear how many aircraft and what types the Taliban have managed to repair, but Russian Mi17 utility helicopters have often been used in rescue operations – including the recent floods that killed hundreds in the northwestern part of the country.