ISLAMABAD: The six-member crew of the Punjab government helicopter that crash-landed in Afghanistan earlier this month reached Pakistan on Saturday after remaining in captivity of the Afghan Taliban for more than a week.

The Foreign Office announced the return of the crew through a statement saying they had been `recovered and arrived in Islamabad today`.

The released men are Capt Safdar Hussain (chief pilot), Capt Safdar Ashraf, Capt Muhammad Shafiq-ur-Rehman (first officer), Nasir Mahmood (flight engineer), Muhammad Kausar (crew chief) and Sergei Sevastianov (Russian navigator).

`All crew members are safe and in good health,` the statement fur-ther said.

The crew had been taken hostage when their Mi-17 helicopter made an emergency landing in a Talibancontrolled district of Logar province on Aug 4 after it developed a technical problem en route to Russia for maintenance.

The helicopter had taken off from Peshawar and was to make a stopover in Uzbekistan before proceeding to Russia. The helicopter caught fire af ter the crash-landing.

Both Pakistani and Russian governments had been making efforts for the release of the hostages.

The crew members were handed over to the elders of a Pakistani tribe near Parachinar, Kurram Agency, by Afghan tribesmen, a security source said. Later, the six men were flown to Islamabad aboard a military helicopter.

FO spokesman Nafees Zakaria had said at a press briefing onThursday that the Afghan government was trying to secure their release with the help of elders of the area. However, the circumstances in which they were released remain unclear.

Military spokesman Lt Gen Asim Bajwa denied that ransom had been paid for the release of the crew members. According to local officials, the crew members were handed over to the authorities at Spina Shaga, in the foothills of the White Mountains, some 25km northwest of Parachinar.

The men were then brought to Parachinar, the administrative headquarters of Kurram Agency.

Sources claimed that the Afghan Taliban had released the crew on Thursday.

Dawn`s Parachinar correspondent Hussain Afzal contributed to this report