Pakistan flight issued mayday call
Pilot contacted control after one of the plane’s engines failed. Airline chairman insists aircraft was technically sound
SADDHA BATOLNI // A Pakistani aircraft carrying 47 people issued a mayday call before crashing into a mountain, killing everyone on board, authorities said yesterday as they began collecting DNA to identify victims.
The Pakistan International Airlines (Pia) flight crashed into a hillside in the country’s north after one of its two turboprop engines failed en route from the city of Chitral to the capital, Islamabad.
It burst into flames on impact and parts of the wreckage were found hundreds of metres away from the main crash site in the Abbottabad district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The pilot of the ATR-42 contacted authorities after one engine failed and he issued a mayday call at 4.14pm, Azam Saigol, the airline’s chairman said. The plane began descending a minute later before disappearing from radar at 4.16pm.
“This plane was technically sound and was checked in October,” Mr Saigol said, adding that the captain had flown more than 12,000 hours and the aircraft was nine years old.
“Our focus now is to retrieve the bodies,” he said.
Pia spokesman Danyal Gilani said the aircraft’s black box was recovered but it would take time to determine the cause of the crash.
An earlier death toll of 48 has been revised to 47.
Those on-board included Junaid Jamshed, one of the country’s best loved singers who lat- er became a Muslim preacher, senior local officials and three foreigners – two Austrians and a Chinese.
Dozens of friends and family members gathered at hospitals in Islamabad and Rawalpindi yesterday to identify remains. Relatives were asked to submit DNA to help the process.
“My friend died in the plane crash, it is a great tragedy for me as he was my childhood friend,” said Murad Khan from Chitral.
“His relatives have not arrived yet. I work in Islamabad so I am here to receive his body. I don’t know if I will see his face for the last time or not.” Raja Aamir, whose mother died in the crash, said: “The sudden death of our mother is great loss for our family – 40 to 50 members of my family have arrived here in Islamabad. We don’t know where we will stay.”
Six of the victims were identified using fingerprints, said Ali Baz, an official at the Ayub medical complex.
Senior aviation officials yesterday refuted allegations that a maintenance lapse had caused the accident. “One engine of the plane failed after its take- off from Chitral and the pilot informed us about that in his call to control,” said aviation official Muhammad Irfan Elahi. “The plane, however, was cleared for flight and that’s why it flew. Had it not been cleared, it would not fly.”
Overnight, rescuers, including hundreds of villagers, pulled remains from the wreckage.
“The villagers told us the plane was shaky before it crashed,” said a senior rescue official.
“It was about to hit the village but it seems the pilot managed to drag the plane towards the hills.” The crash was the fourth deadliest on Pakistani soil.
The country’s worst air disaster was in 2010, when an Airbus 321 crashed into the hills outside Islamabad while about to land, killing all 152 on board – an incident blamed on pilot error.
‘ The plane was cleared for flight and that’s why it flew. Had it not been cleared, it would not fly Muhammad Irfan Elahi Aviation official