Indonesian Ambassador Dies in Singapore, 11 Days After Pakistan Crash

Jakarta Globe, Novy Lumanauw, May 19, 2015

Pakistani army soldiers carry coffins, wrapped in national flags and carrying
 bodies of helicopter crash victims, at the Nur Khan air base in Islamabad on
May 9. (Reuters Photo/Faisal Mahmood)

Jakarta. Indonesia’s ambassador to Pakistan, Burhan Muhammad, died at a hospital in Singapore on Tuesday, 11 days since suffering severe injuries in a helicopter crash in northern Pakistan in which his wife was killed.

Burhan, 57, reportedly died at 12:50 a.m. from severe burns sustained in the May 8 crash. His body will be flown to Jakarta on Tuesday evening for a memorial service at the Foreign Ministry office, before being taken to his hometown of Yogyakarta for burial.

“I pray that he earns a good place by Allah’s side and that the family he leaves behind be given strength,” President Joko Widodo said in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Foreign Minister Retno L.P. Marsudi said separately that Indonesia had “lost one of its best diplomats.”

Burhan was among several diplomats on board a Pakistani military Mi-17 helicopter on the way to inspect a tourism project in northern Pakistan’s Gilgit region when it crashed. The Pakistani Taliban initially claimed responsibility for shooting down the helicopter, but the government insisted that the crash was due to engine failure.

Hery Listyawati, Burhan’s wife, was killed in the crash, along with the Philippine and Norwegian ambassadors to Pakistan, as well as the wife of Malaysia’s ambassador and three Pakistani crew members.