The Bhoja Air passenger jet crashed on Friday as it tried to land in a thunderstorm at Islamabad’s main airport, killing all 127 people on board. The small domestic airline, which resumed operations in March after an 11-year pause, had said the weather was the cause.
The Boeing 737, operated by local airline Bhoja Air, was flying to the capital from Pakistan’s biggest city and business hub Karachi. It crashed into wheat fields more than five miles from the airport.
Bhoja Air said the airplane crashed during its approach in Islamabad due to bad weather. There was no indication from the government that it could have been the result of foul play.
A Bhoja Air flight crashed near Islamabad in a residential area due to bad weather, killing all 127 people on board. The flight was heading for Islamabad from Karachi
At the capital’s main hospital, rescue workers brought in remains of the passengers placed under white sheets soaked in blood.
As the police struggled to keep order, trying to keep the distraught calm and television cameras away, Mohammad Nasir hoped somehow that his brother’s body would be intact despite the horrific force of the crash.
He approached other relatives of passengers and hospital workers. He kept asking “have you seen any whole bodies?â€
The Boeing Company said in a statement on its website that it “wishes to extend its profound condolences to the families and friends†of the Bhoja Air passengers.
At Karachi airport, Asim Hashmi complained the airline’s counter was shut and he had no way of obtaining information on his aunt and cousin, who were on flight B4-213.
“We don’t know anything,†he said. “Just pray for the souls of the departed. That is all we can do now.â€
According to the report, three minutes before the crash, the plane’s captain had informed the control tower that the plane was getting out of his control.
The report moreover said that the fuel tank of the plane had exploded.
The plane was flying at the altitude of 2,000 metres when it had last contacted the control tower.
Minutes prior to its planned landing at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport, the plane had been descending at a speed of 500 kilometres per hour before it eventually crashed, the report revealed.
Soldiers and emergency workers at first light began the grim task of looking for bodies and body parts among the debris from the Boeing 737-200, which was spread out over a one kilometer (mile) stretch of wheat farms around five kilometers (three miles) from the Benazir Bhutto International Airport.
Nasim Ahmed, a former crash investigator, said it appeared that the age and air worthiness of the plane were unlikely causes. He said that a combination of factors during the most crucial stage of the flight, the landing, was probably to blame, possibly the weather or some form of unexpected incident that caused the pilot to lose vital awareness of the plane’s location.
Speaking at the scene of the crash, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Saturday that Farooq Bhoja, head of Bhoja Air, had been put on the â€exit control list,†meaning he can’t leave Pakistan. Such a ban is often put on someone suspected or implicated in a criminal case.
Bhoja Air started domestic operations in Pakistan in 1993 and eventually expanded to international flights to the United Arab Emirates in 1998. The company suspended operations in 2001 due to financial difficulties but resumed them in 2012.