PARIS/KARACHI: Air crash investigators were en route from Pakistan to France on Monday with two ‘black box’ flight recorders of a Pakistani airliner that crashed in a residential area while trying to land in the port city of Karachi last month, airport officials said.
An Airbus test plane, unusually commissioned to transport the boxes because of disruption from the coronavirus crisis, was due to arrive on Monday afternoon at Le Bourget near Paris where France’s BEA air accident agency was standing by to open them.
The French agency is involved in the Pakistan-led probe because the crashed A320 was designed by France-based Airbus, and is additionally carrying out the crucial task of decoding the recorders because it has state-of-the-art equipment.
The A320 operated by Pakistan International Airlines crashed short of the runway on May 22, killing 97 people on board after the pilots reported the loss of both engines.
Two passengers survived and there were no reports of casualties on the ground. The crash site remained sealed off on Monday.
BEA experts are expected to open and download information from the boxes — one containing cockpit voice recordings and the other aircraft data — on Tuesday, subject to the recording chips being intact inside their crash-resistant shells.
Initial reports suggested the jetliner scraped its engines along the runway on a first attempt to land following what appeared to be an unstable approach, arriving steep and fast.
Investigators will analyze the cockpit data to try to understand whether damage to the engines from the first landing attempt caused them to cut out before the second attempt, leaving the airplane unable to make it to the airport perimeter.
Experts warn it is too early to say what caused the crash.
In Karachi, as officials continued to try to identify victims’ bodies using DNA samples, families took to social media to voice their grief at not being able to perform the last rites of their loved ones.
The airline said on Sunday problems in identifying victims were caused by delays in DNA identification outside its control.
Black boxes from crashed Pakistan jet head to France for analysis
https://arab.news/2s96j
Black boxes from crashed Pakistan jet head to France for analysis
- French agency is involved in the Pakistan-led probe because the crashed A320 was designed by France-based Airbus
- A320 operated by PIA crashed short of the runway on May 22, killing 97 people on board
Pakistan PM to attend World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Switzerland next month
- The WEF meeting, scheduled to be held in Davos on Jan. 19-23, will focus on global challenges, public-private dialogue and cooperation
- Government, business, civil society and academia leaders will engage in forward-looking discussions to address these issues, set priorities
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will travel to Switzerland next month to attend the 56th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF), Pakistani state media reported on Monday.
The WEF annual meeting, themed as ‘A Spirit of Dialogue,’ will be held from Jan. 19 to Jan. 23 in Davos, where world leaders from government, business, civil society and academia will engage in forward-looking discussions to address global issues and set priorities.
Prime Minister Sharif is expected to interact with global leaders and investors on economic challenges, regional and international issues and various opportunities for cooperation.
On Monday, Deputy PM Ishaq Dar presided over a meeting in Islamabad to oversee preparations for Sharif’s upcoming visit to Switzerland to attend the WEF meeting, the Radio Pakistan broadcaster reported.
“Dar instructed to maximize the engagements with the incoming Heads of States, Governments and senior leadership of economic, business and financial institutions,” the report read.
The WEF meeting program will be structured around key global challenges where public-private dialogue and cooperation, involving all stakeholders, is necessary for progress, according to the WEF website.
In addressing these challenges, growth, resilience and innovation will serve as cross-cutting imperatives, guiding how leaders engage with today’s complexity and pursue tomorrow’s opportunities.
Pakistani foreign ministry officials briefed the deputy PM about preparations for the WEF meeting, according to Radio Pakistan. The participants of Monday’s meeting in Islamabad discussed in detail the bilateral component and media engagements during the visit.
“He [Dar] further stressed that opportunities be explored to foster collaboration with private sector business entities,” the state broadcaster said.
