Islamabad plane crash: Investigators to probe possibilities of sabotage, hijacking

July 29th, 2010 - 12:35 pm ICT by ANI ( 1 comment )

Islamabad, July 29(ANI): The Pakistan government has formed two separate investigation teams to determine the actual cause of Wednesday’s plane crash near Islamabad, in which all 152 passengers onboard were feared to have been killed.

The tragedy took place at about 10 a.m. when a domestic passenger plane crashed behind the mountains of Margalla Hills.

Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority had said that the Airblue plane, which took off at 7.50 a.m. from Karachi to Islamabad, crashed minutes before landing.

The first team, led by Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Director General Zafarullah Khan, has been assigned the task of investigating the possibility of sabotage.

As the plane had flown over the no-fly zone for quite some time (over the Parliament House and the President’s house), the investigation team would also scrutinise the credentials of the passengers, and look into the possibility that a suspect might have tried to hijack the plane to use it as a “flying bomb”.

“The investigation team will look into the possibility whether the plane, flying away from the defined route, was to be used as part of an act of sabotage,” The Daily Times quoted a source, as saying.

The second team, led by Civil Aviation Authority Safety Investigation Board President Air Commodore Khawaja Abdul Majeed, will focus on human factors, technical fault and weather conditions. The team will also record the statements of eyewitnesses.

Examination of the plane’s black box will also help the investigators in ascertaining the real cause of the crash.

Both the committees will present their findings to the federal government. (ANI)

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One Response

  1. Tariq R. Khan Says:

    It is truely a very traggic event. Many lives were lost whether there was a human error or a mechanical error. Some reports suggested that it was a faulty pressure disc which caused this crash. What i dont understand is that why the pilot was way off course and why did he not notify the tower that he was having difficulty turning the plane. Tower warned the pilot that he was off course and that he needs to turn left immediately to avoid the hills. Was this aircraft not equipped with Terrain Avoidence Radar which tells the pilot that he is on a collision course with the mountain. i am sure that this aircraft was not being flown under visual flight rules because in such weather and low visibilty it would not be permissible. These passenger aircraft are almost always flown under instrument flight rules and all flight takes place under complete control of the air traffic control tower. I think that close analysis of the black box would reveal the real reason behind this fatal crash. May Allah be pleased with the victims and have mercy on their souls. Ameen

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