Six crew members of the Mi-17 helicopter who were captured in Afghanistan after the hard landing are released and brought to Islamabad, said Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mohammed Nafees Zakaria.

“The six member crew of Punjab government helicopter that went missing in Afghanistan on 4th August 2016 has been recovered and arrived in Islamabad today,” he said.

Russian navigator Sergey Sevastyanov was among those released, Reuters reported.

According to Zakaria, the exchange occurred on the Afghan-Pakistan border, where representatives of the Afghan tribes handed over crew to the Pakistani elders then pilots were brought to Islamabad.