Pak plane crashes with 127 on board, no survivors found

April 20, 2012

crash

Islamabad, April 20: A Pakistani airliner with 127 people on board crashed in bad weather as it came in to land in Islamabad on Friday, scattering wreckage and leaving no sign of survivors.


The Boeing 737, operated by local airline Bhoja Air, was flying to the capital from Pakistan's biggest city and business hub Karachi. It crashed into wheat fields more than 5 miles (about 9 km) from the airport.


Rawal Khan Maitla, director general of Emergency Disaster Management for the Capital Development Authority, said there were no survivors.


TV reports claimed that the black box of the ill-fated aircraft has been found. However, there was no official confirmation on this.


Rescue workers walked through mud at the crash site with flashlights or with the lights of their cellphones looking for passengers' remains. One held up a tattered e-ticket receipt.


Body parts, wallets and eyeglasses lay among wreckage strewn in a small settlement just outside Islamabad.


"It was as if the entire sky had burst into flames," said a resident of the area.


Parts of the aircraft smashed into electricity poles, blanketing the area in darkness, or into houses. There were no reports of casualties on the ground.


Bhoja Air said the airplane crashed during its approach in Islamabad due to bad weather. There was no indication from the government that it could have been the result of foul play.


A man who had been waiting at Islamabad's Benazir Bhutto International Airport for the flight yelled "my two daughters are dead" as tears streamed down his face.


In a state of shock, he then slumped on the floor and sat silently as other relatives of passengers crowded around lists of those on board.


The uncle of the sisters, 18 and 20, said they were supposed to return to Islamabad on Sunday but flew early to see an aunt who is visiting from London.


"We don't even know when or where we will get to see their bodies," said the uncle, Qamar Abbas, who kept mumbling "no, no, no" to himself.


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.


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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News Network
March 16,2024

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Ottawa, Mar 16: An Indian-origin couple and their teenage daughter were killed in a "suspicious" fire which tore through their home last week in Canada's Ontario province, police said on Friday.

A fire engulfed a home at the Big Sky Way and Van Kirk Drive area of Brampton on March 7, a press release by the Peel Police said.

After the blaze was put out, investigators located what was believed to be human remains within the gutted house, but the number of people killed couldn't be ascertained at the time.

The charred remains were on Friday identified as those of three family members: 51-year-old Rajiv Warikoo; his wife, 47-year-old Shilpa Kotha; and their 16-year-old daughter, Mahek Warikoo.

Police said that they resided at the address before the fire.

Peel police Constable Taryn Young on Friday said the fire had been deemed suspicious, the CTV news channel reported.

"At this time, we are investigating this with our homicide bureau, and we are deeming this as suspicious as the Ontario Fire Marshal has deemed that this fire was not accidental," the report quoted Young as saying.

"There's not much left to it," Young said when asked about the possible cause of the fire.

"Looking into something like that as a fire marshal, I'm sure it's very tough when there is not much left to look at. But we are exhausting all avenues," she said.

The deceased family's neighbour, Kenneth Yousaf, said that the family had lived on the street for about 15 years, and he never noticed any problems with them.

Yousaf said he was alerted to the fire last week by a family member, who heard a big "bang." "When we came out, the house was on fire. So sad. Within a few hours, everything was down to the ground," the report quoted Yousaf as saying.

In a press release, police said they are continuing to investigate the deaths of the three family members and urged anyone with information to come forward.

"The circumstances surrounding the house fire remains the focus of an active investigation, and anyone with information or video footage (dashcam or otherwise) is urged to contact Homicide detectives," police said.

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News Network
March 28,2024

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Russia says it is "extremely hard to believe" that Daesh could have staged the recent hugely deadly attack on a Moscow concert hall that the country's intelligence and security officials have blamed on Ukraine and its Western backers.

Four gunmen burst into the Russian capital's Crocus City Hall on Friday and began shooting at the people, who were attending an event. The Takfiri terrorist group has allegedly claimed responsibility for the massacre that killed at least 143.

Speaking on Wednesday, however, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova cast that claim into serious doubt.

"In order to ward off suspicions from the collective West, they urgently needed to come up with something, so they resorted to ISIS (Daesh), pulled an ace out of their sleeve, and literally a few hours after the terrorist attack, the Anglo-Saxon media began disseminating precisely these versions," she said.

The chief of the Russian internal intelligence (FSB), Alexander Bortnikov has suggested that not only Ukraine, but also the United States and Britain might have been behind the shooting.

The Russian Federal Security Service has also said the gunmen planned to travel to Ukraine, where they were to be welcomed as "heroes." The FSB said Western intelligence services aided the attackers.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has also suggested that Ukraine stood to derive benefit from the attack and that Kiev might have played a role.

He has said that someone on the Ukrainian side had prepared a "window" for the gunmen to escape across the border before they were captured in western Russia on Friday night.

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March 25,2024

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A teenager who led over 100 people to safety during Friday’s terrorist attack at a Moscow concert hall, has been hailed as a hero. 15-year-old Islam Khalilov, who worked part-time in one of the cloakrooms at Crocus City, recounted the events of the tragic evening to the Ruptly video agency.

The concert venue situated just outside of Moscow was packed ahead of a performance by the Russian rock band Picnic, when a group of terrorists armed with assault rifles forced their way into the building. They fired indiscriminately at fleeing people and then set the concert hall on fire.

According to the latest estimates, the attack has claimed the lives of at least 137 people, with about 180 injured.

Khalilov told the video agency that “it was when people started running from the escalator, from the stairway” that he realized that an emergency was occurring. The teenager said that he was acting on “instincts” at the time and used his thorough knowledge of the premises to quickly arrange visitors’ evacuation toward another building within the Crocus City complex.

“I started shouting all across the foyer, all across Crocus City Hall - ‘Folks, there’s a shooting! All run to the expo!’ – and I was showing where they had to go and was helping everyone,” he explained.

According to the cloakroom attendant, “there was a stampede, and everyone was in shock at first. No one knew what to do and where to go.”

Khalilov added that he himself was running behind the entire group to make sure he had not left anyone behind.

The teenager admitted to being “really scared” all along, but still managed to make the right use the instructions he’d previously been given on how to evacuate patrons in case of an emergency.

He told Ruptly that, at one point, he had caught a glimpse of one of the terrorists.

“I saw one, [he was] bearded and in green fatigues, he was walking around with an assault rifle,” the teenager recounted.

He also recalled seeing a man getting fatally shot by one of the assailants, adding that he “can’t stop thinking about it.”

The 15-year-old said he doesn’t consider himself a hero, and that he was just doing his job.

Explaining what helped him overcome fear, Khalilov reasoned that “It’s better to sacrifice yourself than to let a hundred people die.”

After Khalilov’s feat had been reported-on by several Russian media outlets, his favorite football club, FC Spartak Moscow, invited him to a meeting where he was presented with free passes to their matches.

Popular Russian rap artist Morgenstern said he had transferred 1,000,000 rubles ($11,000) to the teenager – something that Khalilov has confirmed to media.

The leader of Russia's Muslims, Mufti Ravil Guynutdin, has announced that Khalilov would receive a medal for his bravery.

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