ISLAMABAD – An Air Blue passenger plane crashed due to bad weather here in Margalla Hills on Wednesday, killing all 152 people on board.
The flight number ED 202, crashed into a heavily wooded and hard-to-access hillside, while flying from Karachi, just minutes before landing on Benazir Bhutto International Airport and all 146 passengers and six crewmembers died.
Prime Minister of Youth Parliament, Hasan Javed Khan, his five colleagues, an Austrian scientist and two US nationals are among the dead.
It was observed during the visit of the accident site that body parts of the deceased were scattered all over. Some of the limbs and flesh organs were found on bush and the branches of trees. Most of the dead bodies were completely charred and beyond recognition.
As the news of the crash broke out, a large number of volunteers and officials of Rescue 1122, Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), Civil Defence of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Rangers, and Pakistan Army rushed towards Daman-e-Koh, the site of the accident. They succeeded to reach the spot after a hectic walk of more than an hour on a dangerous hilly track. On the other hand, heavy rain and air pressure also created problems for the rescuers, while helicopters, despite several attempts, could not land on the site due to landslides and trees around the site.
“I saw a plane hovering over Margalla Hills and all of a sudden it crashed,” an inhabitant of the area informed.
“There is no survivor and not a single corpse can be recognised,” said a volunteer Atif Ali, a student of International Islamic University.
The volunteers collected the scattered body parts in bags and sent them to hospitals via Army helicopters, while volunteers brought a number of bodies in their hands after crossing dangerous mountains.
Some 300 body bags, 40 blankets and a dozen bundles of rope were airdropped at the crash site. The helicopter service was suspended for some hours due to heavy rain, however it was restarted when the rain was over. Four army helicopters took part in the operation. These volunteers shifted the remains near Daman-e-Koh, which were later brought to PIMS, Poly Clinic and other hospitals through ambulances.
Several Federal Ministers including Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Syed Khursheed Shah and Nazar Muhammad Gondal visited Daman-e-Koh but they could not reach the site due to bad weather and difficult hilly track.
Meanwhile, Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik confused the whole nation by saying that five people had been rescued and shifted to nearby hospitals. However, later he confirmed that there were no survivors.
Federal Interior Ministry established a helpline (051-9211223-4) in National Crisis Management Cell to facilitate the relatives of victims.
A group of woodcutters equipped with saws and sharp axes was also summoned to cut trees for setting up a temporary helipad at the site to make way for volunteers for brining bodies to Damn-e-Koh.
More than 130 dead bodies have been retrieved from the site till filing of this report.