127 dead in Pakistan plane crash
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E-mail China Daily, April 21, 2012
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A relative of a victim of the Bhoja Air airliner crash is consoled by family members at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi April 20, 2012. [Photo/Agencies] |
Headed for Honeymoon
When Sajjad Rizvi and Sania Abbas boarded the flight, they were looking forward to their honeymoon in a hill resort near Islamabad. "We had a joint wedding on March 28," said Sania's brother Zeeshan at the airport.
Nearby, relatives of passengers hugged each other and sobbed. One man cried "my kids, my kids".
The last major aviation accident in Pakistan was in July 2010, when a commercial airliner operated by AirBlue with 152 people on board crashed into the hills overlooking Islamabad.
In 2006, a Pakistan International Airlines aircraft crashed near the central city of Multan, killing 45 people.
State television reported that all hospitals in Islamabad and the nearby city of Rawalpindi had been put on high alert after Friday's crash.
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A relative of a victim of the Bhoja Air airliner crash mourns at the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi April 20, 2012. [Photo/Agencies] |
At the capital's main hospital, rescue workers brought in remains of the passengers placed under white sheets soaked in blood.
"Two years later the same story is being repeated in my house again," said Nasreen Mubasher, who was at the hospital waiting for the remains of her brother-in-law, who was a passenger. Another brother-in-law died in the AirBlue crash.
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?"
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."
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