Debris of crashed plane are seen at the crash site on the outskirts of Islamabad, capital of Pakistan, on April 21, 2012. All passengers and the crew aboard a Pakistani plane that crashed near Islamabad Friday evening have been declared dead after the rescue teams found the wreckage, the country's Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Saturday.(Xinhua/Zhang Yong)
ISLAMABAD, April 21 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani announced Saturday to form a judicial commission to investigate a plane crash near the capital Islamabad which killed 127 passengers and the crew on Friday evening.
The Boeing-373 of private Bhoja Airlines from Karachi to Islamabad came down nearly 10 kilometers away from Islamabad airport.
The Defence Ministry had ordered a team of experts from the aviation and air force to determine the real causes of the plane crash, the second near Islamabad in two years. The authorities think lightening may be the cause of the crash.
In July 2010, a private airlines aircraft crashed at the Islamabad's Margalla Hills, killing 152 passengers and the crew.
Gilani vowed to hold judiciary inquiry into the crash after the media raised questions about instructions by the civil aviation authorities at Islamabad airport to the captain to land in poor weather condition. "I announce judicial commission to probe the air crash and we must not jump to conclusions before a proper investigation,"Gilani told reporters after visiting relatives of those killed in the incident.
He told the media that 159 bags of bodies parts had been brought to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in the capital and 72 bodies had been identified in which 62 were handed over to their relatives. He said that remaining bodies would be identified by DNA tests. "The whole nation is in state of shock and we share pain with those who have lost their family members in the biggest tragedy," the prime minister said.
President Asif Ali Zardari ordered the state-owned Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to transfer bodies to Karachi free of cost, Airlines Spokesman Sultan Hasan said.
The country's meteorological department said that it had warned the aviation authorities two times about 'disturbance' in weather in Islamabad.
"Weather was very disturbed in Islamabad yesterday. There was thunder, lightening and fast wind and the unstable atmosphere was not fit for landing at Islamabad airport. We had provided all information to the aviation authorities,"Chief of the department Dr Arif Mehmood told private Geo television.
He said the plane should have been diverted to Lahore, the capital of Punjab, which he said was the alternate nearest destination.
Earlier, relatives of passengers and crew members arrived in Islamabad from Karachi in two planes on Saturday to identify the bodies.
Special information counters have been set up at Islamabad's Benazir Bhutto International Airport and PIMS to facilitate the relatives.
Officials from the country's National Database and Registration Authority were present in the hospital to help identification of the bodies. DNA tests were carried out and a bio-metric system was also installed in the hospital as most of the bodies are mutilated.
ISLAMABAD, April 21 (Xinhua) -- All passengers and the crew aboard a Pakistani plane that crashed near Islamabad yesterday evening have been declared dead after the rescue teams found the wreckage, the country's Interior Minister said Saturday. Full story
ISLAMABAD, April 20 (Xinhua) -- A passenger plane carrying 127 passengers and crew members crashed near Islamabad of Pakistan Friday evening, the Pakistani aviation authorities and Defence Ministry said.
Officials said that the plane of a private company came down a few kilometers away from Islamabad. Police at the site said there were no chance of survivors. Full story
ISLAMABAD, April 20 (Xinhua) --A black box flight recorder from a Pakistani private airlines plane, that crashed near Islamabad international airport Friday evening, killing 127 people on board, has been recovered by search teams, officials said. Full story
ISLAMABAD, April 20 (Xinhua) -- The Pakistani aviation authorities and rescuers say there is no hope of survivors from a passenger plane that crashed near Islamabad with 127 people on board Friday evening. Full story
