Pakistan Airplane Crash

48 people including pop star Junaid Jamshed died in Pakistan International Airways crash.

13:27 08 December 2016

Pakistan International Airways flight PK-661 crashed about 70km north of Islamabad leaving no survivors. 

 

PIA chairman Azam Sehgal described the accident as “tragic” saying “we are not trying to absolve ourselves of responsibility.” 

 

"We accept that it was our aircraft, and these were our passengers, and what happened is very sad." He added that they are now focusing retrieving “dead bodies from the wreckage, transport them to Islamabad and hand them over to their families".

 

The airline has confirmed that there were 42 passengers, five crew members and one ground engineer on board. Among the passengers were two Austria nationals and one Chinese national, as confirmed by their respective foreign ministries. Also on board was pop star Junaid Jamshed whose nearly half a million Twitter followers have been paying tribute. 

 

Among them, British boxer and Olympic silver medallist Amir Khan, who tweeted: "PIA plane crash in Pakistan. My friend @JunaidJamshedPK was on the flight also, My heart goes out to all families who lost their loved 1's".

 

Mr Jamshed's uncle, Sahibzada Jehangir, said: "It's not only a personal loss but a national loss. And a great loss to humanity. People are still in shock. I've been talking to people all afternoon. Some have not even eaten. They are crying.

 

"What a contribution he made to humanity. We've lost a great hero, a great legend. A very, very sad day."