By Muhammad Luqman
The Airbus investigation team that arrived in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi on Tuesday, has completed its initial investigation into the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) aircraft crash.
The crash of the plane flying from eastern city of Lahore to Karachi had killed 97 people including passengers and the crew members while two persons survived miraculously.
The 11-member probe team inspected the runway of the Jinnah International Airport. They also visited the air traffic control tower and radar control station.
The specialists also l visited the plane crash site area in Model Colony besides providing provide technical assistance to their Pakistani counterparts to probe the reasons for the crash.
The Airbus experts are expected to take the aircraft’s black box recorder which contains the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder and any other evidence that would help with the investigation.
We regret to confirm that an A320 operated by Pakistan International Airlines was involved in an accident during flight #PK8303 from Lahore to Karachi on May, 22 2020. Our thoughts are with all those affected. Airbus is providing assistance to the investigation.
— Airbus (@Airbus) May 22, 2020
PIA’s Airbus A320 crashed in the residential area of Model Colony near the Karachi airport on May 22, minutes before landing. The plane flying from Lahore to Karachi had 99 persons on board including passengers and crew.
The bodies of the deceased are being identified via DNA testing and the process will continue in the coming days, English newspaper, Daily Express Tribune reported.
Preliminary investigations suggest that the crash occurred due to technical faults, however, further investigation is underway.
Meanwhile, Gul Muhammad Bhatti, the father of late captain, Sajjad Gul has expressed reservations over the initial probe of the crash.
” It is not fair to become speculative before the completion of the investigation; The way PIA is leaking the information regarding investigation shows that efforts are being made for a cover-up,” he said during a meeting with Governor of Punjab province , Chaudhary Muhammad Sarwar in eastern city of Lahore.
