| July 10, 2006
Plane Crash Kills 45 In Pakistan
27-Year Old Aircraft Crashes Into Wheat Field; Cause Not Yet Known
(Page 2 of 2) MULTAN, Pakistan, July 10, 2006
 People gather near the wreckage of a Pakistani Fokker F-27 twin-engine passenger plane that crashed in Multan, Pakistan, on July 10, 2006. All 45 people on board were killed. (AP Photo/Khalid Tanveer) |
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(AP) He said PIA has six other Fokker planes in its fleet — mostly flying less-busy routes to provincial cities — and defended their safety.
"No PIA plane can come on the runway before it is fully looked after for maintenance," he said.
Bashir said flight PK-688 took off normally on a flight to Lahore, the capital of eastern Punjab province, at around 12:05 p.m.
"Whatever happened to it was after takeoff," he said.
Plane debris, newspapers, cold drink bottles and clothes littered the crash site, about two miles from Multan airport. Emergency workers wore face masks to protect against thick black smoke and the smell of burning oil and flesh.
After firefighters doused the fire, rescuers pulled bodies from the smoldering wreckage. The fire left the plane's fuselage a blackened hulk and its seared tail lay on its side.
Bodies were taken to the morgue at state-run Nishtar Hospital in Multan, where about 500 relatives, gathered to claim the remains of loved ones for burial.
At least five bodies have been claimed by relatives but many were burned beyond recognition, said Dr. Gul Nawaz. Relatives were trying to identify the corpses from clothing and other belongings.
Mohammed Nadeem, a jeweler who lives near the crash site, said the plane was rotating sideways in the air before it hit the ground and went up in flames.
"There was a huge explosion after the plane hit the ground," he said.
Another witness, Arshad Gujjar, 35, who had been cutting a tree in a nearby orchard, said the plane had come down "abruptly" and hit the ground with a huge thud. It caught fire and caused a fire at a nearby power line, he said.
At least eight fire trucks helped put out the blazing wreckage as police and army troops ordered hundreds of onlookers to keep back.
The crash could put PIA's safety record under close scrutiny.
The airline has reported a number of emergency landings in recent years and in December 2004, several passengers on a domestic flight were injured when one of its jets suddenly dipped, fearing a midair collision with another plane.
In August 1989, another PIA Fokker, with 54 people onboard, went down in Pakistan's Himalayan north on a domestic flight. The plane's wreckage was never found.
In September 1992, a PIA Airbus A300 crashed into a mountain in Nepal, killing all 167 people on board. Investigators found the plane was flying 1,500 feet lower than it reported as it approached Katmandu airport.
In February 2003, a Fokker F-27 of the Pakistan Air Force crashed in mountains near the northwestern city of Kohat, killing 17 senior officials including the then-air force chief Mushaf Ali Mir.
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Inna lillahi wa inna alaihi rajioon. May Allah (swt) give their families sabr and may He(swt) Protect the deceased from the punishment of the grave and all of us. Ameen. |
