ISLAMABAD: Search teams on Thursday recovered the cockpit voice recorder from the wreckage of a Pakistani airliner that crashed into a city neighborhood last week killing 97 people on board, a spokesman for the airline said.
The Pakistan International Airlines Airbus A320 crashed on Friday into a residential district of the port city of Karachi. Two people on board survived.
Flight PK8303, from the eastern city of Lahore to Karachi, came down about a kilometer short of the runway as it was making a second attempt to land.
“The search resumed this morning and the voice recorder was found buried in the debris,” spokesman Abdullah H. Khan said in a statement.
“The cockpit voice recorder recovery will help a lot in the investigation.”
The flight data recorder had already been found.
Pakistani officials and Airbus investigators are collecting evidence at the site as they try to determine the cause of the country’s worst airline disaster in years.
Under international aviation rules, French investigators from the BEA — the French air safety investigation authority for civil aviation — have joined the Pakistan-led probe because the 15-year-old Airbus jet was designed in France.
The BEA said in a statement the two recorders would be examined at its laboratory just outside Paris. It issued a photograph of one of them on Twitter showing that it appeared to be intact inside its crash-resistant shell and metal base.
The plane’s CFM56 engines are expected to be a focus of the investigation after the pilot reported both had failed shortly after the plane made an initial, unsuccessful attempt to land.
The engines were made by CFM International, a joint-venture of France’s Safran and General Electric, and are among the most widely used and reliable in the airline industry.
Cockpit voice recorder recovered from debris of crashed Pakistani plane – spokesman
https://arab.news/48p6u
Cockpit voice recorder recovered from debris of crashed Pakistani plane – spokesman
- Says the recorder found buried in debris will help greatly in the probe
- PIA Airbus A320 crashed last Friday into a crowded residential part of Karachi
Pakistan embassy, UN Tourism mark International Day of Mountains in Riyadh
- Event highlights Pakistan’s mountain ecosystems, mountaineering heritage, climate risks
- Diplomats, artists and climbers gather to promote sustainable mountain tourism
ISLAMABAD: The Embassy of Pakistan in Riyadh, in collaboration with the UN Tourism Office, hosted an event this week to mark the United Nations-designated International Day of Mountains, bringing together diplomats, civil society members, mountaineers and artists to spotlight the global and Pakistani significance of mountain ecosystems.
Pakistan is home to some of the world’s largest mountain ranges and glacier systems outside the polar regions, including the Himalayas, Karakoram and Hindu Kush, which feed major rivers that sustain agriculture, hydropower and drinking water for millions of people. Rising temperatures linked to climate change are accelerating glacial melt, increasing the risk of floods, landslides and glacial lake outburst floods, while also threatening long-term water security as ice reserves shrink.
These changes are already affecting mountain communities whose livelihoods depend on farming, tourism and pastoralism, exposing them to displacement, loss of income and environmental degradation, and amplifying the human and economic costs of extreme weather events across downstream regions.
Held at the UN Tourism Office in Riyadh, Thursday’s event focused on the ecological, cultural and economic importance of mountains, with particular attention to Pakistan’s vast high-altitude landscapes.
The evening opened with a micro-documentary titled Mountains of Pakistan, showcasing the country’s mountain ranges and their ecological value. Ambassador of Pakistan to Saudi Arabia Ahmad Farooq, in his opening remarks, highlighted the essential role mountains play in sustaining water systems, food security and communities, while also drawing attention to the growing threats posed by climate change.
“Mountains are not just landscapes, they are life-giving ecosystems, repositories of culture, and sources of inspiration,” Farooq said. “Tonight, we celebrate not only their beauty but our shared responsibility to protect them for future generations.”
He also referred to challenges facing Pakistan’s mountain regions, including climate-change-driven glacial melt and related environmental risks, reaffirming Islamabad’s commitment to sustainable mountain development.
The program included remarks by the director of the UN Tourism Office, who underscored the importance of international cooperation in preserving fragile mountain ecosystems. A second micro-documentary, Spirit of Mountaineering, paid tribute to the courage and resilience of Pakistani climbers and their contributions to global mountaineering.
Among the featured speakers was Naila Kiani, a prominent Pakistani mountaineer and environmental advocate, who shared her experiences scaling some of the world’s highest peaks, including K2 and Nanga Parbat. Kiani is the first Pakistani woman and overall third Pakistani to climb 12 of the 14 eight-thousanders.
Ambassador Farrukh Amil, a senior Pakistani career diplomat and former ambassador, spoke about Pakistan’s mountain heritage and ongoing initiatives to promote conservation and eco-tourism, while landscape photographer Awais Ali presented a photographic exhibition capturing the majesty of Pakistan’s northern regions and the lives of their communities.
The event concluded with the formal inauguration of the mountain photography exhibition curated by Ali, offering guests an immersive visual journey through Pakistan’s highlands.
The embassy said the celebration reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to raising global awareness about mountain ecosystems, promoting sustainable tourism and fostering international collaboration to address climate challenges affecting these fragile environments.
