Margalla hills turn into red

Islamabad



Moving scenes were witnessed at Benazir Bhutto International Airport, hospitals in Islamabad and places near Margalla Hills after the crash of an Airblue plane here on Wednesday morning.



The relatives, friends and colleagues of unfortunate passengers of Airblue plane were seen running madly here and there at Islamabad International Airport, hospitals and places near to the site of crash to know the whereabouts of their dear ones travelling in the plane. More than 150 passengers took off through Flight No-202 from Karachi to Islamabad but fell prey to an unfortunate accident when it crashed into Margalla Hills. The affected people demanded of the higher authorities to arrange immediately for handing over of bodies of their relatives died in the crash.



Rangers and police officials cordoned off the entire area and did not allow any person to go near the site of incident. The relatives and near ones insisted to go to the place of incident but security officials did not allow them in the morning.



Islamabad International Airport was packed with people who wanted to know whereabouts of their relatives but till noon they failed to get some authentic information.



Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Vigilance Officer Zafar Iqbal told ‘The News’ that we are in constant touch with higher authorities and would provide all kind of information immediately to relatives of passengers of the plane.



In the light of initial information army, rangers, navy and other law enforcement agencies were busy in rescuing operation and trying to save the lives of passengers, he said. “We would provide all information about the passengers very soon and people could contact telephone number 051-9031321 in this regard,” he said.



The relatives of unfortunate passengers while talking to ‘The News’ near the site of crash and at Benazir Bhutto International Airport showed their resentment over delay in provision of information. They complained that no body was ready to tell whereabouts of well being of their relatives and demanded of the government to hand over bodies of deceased to them as soon as possible.



Arshad Mehmood, brother of a victim Nawab-ul-Hasan, told ‘The News’ that he contacted his brother before he took off from Karachi but now no body is telling about him. Dozens of affected people tried to contact Air Blue office and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) at the airport but all refused to tell any thing. Where they should go in this situation, he asked.



Rehmat Gull along with his mother said that his younger brother Nemat Gull was coming from Karachi in the unfortunate flight. As he listened the news about plane crash he went near to incident site then came to Benazir Bhutto International Airport for any kind of information. “But I failed to get any information weather he is alive or not,” he said.



Shabbir Ahmed, Zulfiqar Ahmed, Noreen Akhtar and some others in the state of shock demanded of the government to arrange for sending bodies of unfortunate passengers to their native towns.



Meanwhile, several people waiting for the unfortunate Airblue plane, for going to Karachi, faced great difficulties after the crash. They also faced difficulties in refunding their ticket money.