By Khurram Shahzad Hashmi
Islamabad
Federal Government on Friday constituted an investigation team to probe into tragic plane crash of PIACL flight number PK-8303 in residential area of Karachi.
A PIACL Airbus A320 flying from Lahore crashed on Friday in the thickly populated Model Colony, a residential area of Karachi.
The Flight PK8303, carrying 91 passengers and eight crew, was trying to land at Jinnah International Airport. However, it could not land at the airport and crashed in the residential area.
According to a notification issued by the federal government, Air Commodore Muhammad Usman Ghani, the president of Aircraft Accident and Investigation Board (AAIB) has been nominated as the President of this investigation team. Wing Commander Malik Muhammad Imran, Additional Director Technical Investigation, AAIB, Group Captain, Touqeer and Nasir Majeed are part of this team.
The investigation team shall exercise powers conferred by Section 3 and 4, Rules 272 to 275 of Civil Aviation Rules, 1994 and furnish its report Aviation Division, Cabinet Secretariat, the government of Pakistan within one month from the date of this notification, the notification further reads.
At least two people survived the crash of the Airbus A320, which had 99 people aboard.
In the moments before the crash, the flight’s captain radioed to report difficulties with the landing gear. The pilot then attempted an emergency landing, but the maneuver damaged a fuel tank and sent the plane careering into the nearby neighborhood, some media reports suggests.
Meanwhile the Interior Minister Brigadier (Retired) Ijaz Ahmad Shah has appealed to general public to avoid guesswork in this connection and wait for facts and real reasons behind this incident.
Encroachment surrounding airport a point of concern: This is also reliably learnt that Jinnah International Airport is surrounded by a lot of illegal constructions.
Large patches of government land in the surrounding of the airport has been grabbed by the land grabber mafia. There are numerous buildings in its surroundings having three to four-storey structures which are illegal.
Its point of concern for concerned quarters as why illegal buildings were constructed in the area and why action was not taken against them on time. This is yet to learn as how much threat these buildings had posed for this ill-fated plane.
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#planecrash
We belong to God, and to Him we shall return. may Allah Almighty elevate the ranks of the martyrs. Amen! pic.twitter.com/QTAU2pEdYx— Faisal Ali (@The_FaisalAli) May 22, 2020
