The bodies of 11 victims of Airblue’s ill-fated Flight ED-202 arrived at the Karachi Airport on Thursday where moving scenes were witnessed as families consoled each other over the tragic incident.
Family members and friends of the deceased were seen in a state of shock and fought hard to control their tears as they stood united in grief. A cloud of sorrow had descended all over the city which mourned the deaths of the 152 passengers and this was highly evident at the airport.
The remains were sent to Karachi in three flights of Pakistan International Airlines, Air Blue and Shaheen Air International. Officials of Air blue, Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), provincial ministers and MPAs were also present along with the officials of the Sindh government and the City District Government Karachi (CDGK).
The bodies included those of Airblue’s cabin crew Naheed Bhatti, Hina Usman, Umme Habiba and Aisha Arif, First Officer Air Blue Muntajib Ahmed, Faisal Rasheed, Atif Rasheed, Bilal Jami, Misha Dawood, Prem Chand and Waheed.
Namaz-e-Janaza of the victims was offered at the Cargo Terminal and was attended by thousands of people who had gathered to pay their respects to the ill-fated passengers.
EDO Municipal Services CDGK Masood Alam, who represented the administrator Karachi, told The News that 11 bodies arrived at cargo terminal by three different flights while bodies of 18 more victims were expected later in the day.
“We are receiving bodies at the airport, where hundreds of people including officials, are also present and after offering Namaz-e-Janaza, these bodies are being sent to their homes for burial in nearby graveyards,” he said.
Many of the passengers of doomed Airblue Flight ED-202 were residents of Karachi who were travelling to Islamabad for different purposes but could never reach their destination as the plane crashed into Margalla Hills just before landing.
Body of a victim, Prem Chand, was dispatched to Sanghar, his ancestral town for cremation.
The first flight with the three bodies arrived in the city around 4:55am. The victims included two brothers Atif Rasheed and Faisal Rasheed and Aisha Asif.
The brothers were the residents of Defence and were builders by profession. The family of the deceased said that Faisal was going to Islamabad with his younger brother Atif but could not reach their destination due to the unfortunate incident. Their funeral prayers were offered at Sultan Masjid near their residence and later they were buried at the Al-Noor Graveyard.
The body of cabin crew member Aisha, a resident of Block 2 in Gulistan-e-Jauhar, also arrived in the first cargo flight.
The second flight brought the body of First Officer Air Blue Muntajib Ahmed around 4:05pm. The deceased was the father of three children and a resident of Block 2, Gulshan-e-Iqbal. His funeral prayers were offered in Al Shehan Masjid near Cargo Office and were attended by Airblue staff, relatives and several others. He was laid to rest at the Yasinabad Graveyard.
More bodies arrived at 6:50pm through Shaheen Air. Three Youth Parliamentarian including Youth Information Minister Syeda Rabab Zahra Naqvi, Youth Minister for Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs, Prem Chand and Youth Shadow Minister for Information Bilal Jammaee were sent in this flight.
The bodies of airhostess Naheed Bhatti as well as Misha Dawood, Javeria Faraz and Hina also arrived in the same flight. Misha Dawood was a footballer and a resident of Defence.
Ghaibana Namaz-e-Janaza for the plane crash victims were also offered at various mosques throughout Karachi, including Sultan Masjid Defence, Quaid-i-Azam International Airport, F.B Area, Gulshan-e-Iqbal where thousands of people prayed for the souls of the departed.
Meanwhile, the national flag was lowered to half mast at all government installations and public buildings to mourn the incident
