ISLAMABAD: The government will present the inquiry report of last week’s plane crash before a parliamentary session on June 22, said the country’s aviation minister, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, on Thursday while requesting the media and the public not to speculate about the causes of the accident.
“This will be a provisional inquiry report based on free and fair investigation [into the incident]. Nobody should have any confusion about it,” the minister said while promising to release all the inquiry reports of the past 11 plane crashes as well
A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane carrying 99 people including crew members crashed into a residential area near the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi last Friday, resulting in 97 casualties. Two passengers miraculously survived the incident.
“It is my commitment to the nation that all information [related to the plane crash] will be shared with the public in the minimum possible time,” the minister said while announcing to lay the inquiry report in an upcoming parliamentary session on June 22.
Pakistan has a checkered history of aviation safety record that includes a number of air crashes. The country has witnessed 12 plane crashes including the recent one since 1947, out of which 10 involved PIA flights. The other two planes belonged to Air Blue and Bhoja Air.
The minister said that an independent inquiry board was looking into all aspects of the recent crash while an 11-member French team of experts had also collected evidence from the site of the incident to ascertain the causes of the accident.
“Why did this accident happen, how it happened and who is responsible for it, the whole nation is concerned about it,” the minister said, adding that all inquiry reports, including those focusing on past accidents, would not only be made public but also used to take action against all those who were found guilty of negligence.
He said that voice and data records had been found, and the French investigators would take them back to their country to decode them. “There are technical questions that you or I cannot answer. So, we will wait for experts to tell us,” he said.
“Whoever is held responsible [for the accident] will face dire consequences,” the minister said.
He also revealed that the pilot of the ill-fated plane tried to make belly-landing three times without announcing that its landing gears were not extending.
“It is a million-dollar question that he [the pilot] touched the runway three times, but then again lifted the plane up in the air,” he said, adding that the inquiry team would try to answer all the queries.
Out of 97 bodies, 51 have been handed over to their families after identification with the help of DNA tests while the identification process for the remaining bodies is still underway. “We are trying our best to hand over the bodies to their families as soon as possible,” the minister said.
He added that the government teams were surveying the damaged property and vehicles on the crash site to compensate the residents of Model Colony where the plane crashed.
“At least 15 homes are completely destroyed …. We will fully compensate their owners,” he added.
Plane crash inquiry report to be made public on June 22 – aviation minister
https://arab.news/vuz2c
Plane crash inquiry report to be made public on June 22 – aviation minister
- Ghulam Sarwar Khan revealed the pilot of the ill-fated plane made three botched attempts to make belly-landing
- Out of 97 plane crash victims, bodies of 51 have been identified with the help of DNA tests
Gunmen kill Hindu man among three persons in Pakistan’s Balochistan
- No group claimed the attack in the region, where separatist groups have targeted security forces, foreigners, non-local tourists in the past
- Police official says investigations underway to ascertain motives behind the killing of the three men, all residents of Balochistan’s Khuzdar
QUETTA: Unidentified gunmen shot dead three people, including a member of the Hindu community, in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province on Sunday, a police official said.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the killings in the restive region, where Baloch separatist groups have targeted security forces, foreigners, non-local tourists and travelers in the past.
The deceased men, including a Hindu trader, his friend and servant, had been on picnic at Harhnbo Dam in Naal area of Balochistan’s Khuzdar district, according to local police station in-charge Abdullah Pandrani. All three were residents of Khuzdar’s Wadh area.
“Their bodies were handed over to relatives,” Pandrani told Arab News. “The relatives of slain tourists didn’t say whether they had any enmity.”
The killings come days after coordinated attacks by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) group in several districts across Balochistan that killed 36 civilians and 22 security personnel. Authorities said they had killed 216 militants in follow-up operations.
“Investigations are underway to ascertain motives behind the [latest] killings,” Pandrani added.
Balochistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, is the site of a decades-long insurgency waged by Baloch separatist groups who often attack security forces, foreigners and non-local Pakistanis and kidnap government officials.
Separatist militant groups blame Islamabad for exploiting Balochistan’s natural resources and denying locals a share in them. The military and civilian government reject these allegations and say they are investing in the province’s development.
