(Junaid Jamshed, Deputy Commissioner Chitral among dead)
ISLAMABAD/ABBOTABAD/ CHITRAL: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight PK-661 carrying 48 passengers and crew crashed on the way to Islamabad from Chitral on Wednesday. The Civil Aviation Authority confirmed there are no survivors from the ill-fated flight.
PIA Spokesman Daniyal Gilani said there were 42 passengers, five crew members and one ground engineer on board. The passenger list confirmed there were 31 men, 9 women and 2 infants on board the flight, including Junaid Jamshed, Deputy Commissioner Chitral Osama Warraich as well as three foreigners.
The ATR-42 turboprop aircraft departed from Chitral around 3:30pm and was expected to land at Islamabad’s Benazir Bhutto International Airport at around 4:40pm but crashed at Saddha Batolni village near the Pakistan Ordinance Factory, Havelian, PIA said.
PIA Spokesman Daniyal Gilani said, ‘A distress call was sent to the control tower… then the incident of the crash was reported.’
He added that the ATR-42 aircraft which was ‘nearly 10 years old’ claimed that it was ‘in good condition’.
Army troops and army helicopters were mobilised to the site and many bodies were recovered from the plane wreckage, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.
500 army troops, including doctors and paramedics, were deployed at the crash site to take part in the search and rescue mission, ISPR added.
Due to rugged terrain rescue and recovery operations were hindered. Ambulances were also unable to reach at the site of the accident as the aircraft crashed on mountainous terrain.
A rescue team member, Kashif, speaking to state television said, ‘We put the fire out by putting sand on the branches and area surrounding the crash site. The debris was scattered about 100 metres out. The plane fell in a canal behind the mountains so the debris is not very scattered.’
‘People on the ground told me that the plane slammed onto the ground two or three times before it fell into a tank of water. There is no question of landing in this terrain for helicopters or planes. There are settlements on both sides of the crash site.’
‘We looked far and wide for scattered remains or bags but could not find any. The debris is limited to one area. Junaid Jamshed’s visiting cards and ID cards have been recovered by a member of the rescue team,’ Kashif said. He added that dozens of police and rescue officials and about 20-30 villagers reached the spot and used the hot metal plates of the plane to dig up mud and put out the fire.’
Bodies recovered from the debris were sent for DNA testing to Ayub Medical Complex as they were not identifiable.
Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan directed concerned federal departments to immediately initiate rescue efforts and help the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, Press Information Department said.
The black box of the crashed plane was also recovered with PIA officials confirming the development. Information recovered from the flight data recorder may prove crucial to the investigation of the reasons behind the plane crash.
Jamshed was in Chitral for a Tableeghi mission and was returning to Islamabad when the aircraft crashed. He was scheduled to deliver the Friday sermon at Parliament mosque. He was a prominent member of Pakistan’s Tableeghi Jamaat.
Jamshed rocketed to fame in Pakistan in the 1980s and 1990s as the singer for the Vital Signs rock group, and later launched a solo career, with a string of chart-topping albums and hits. NNI/News Desk