A commercial airliner Boeing 737 flying in bad weather crashed into a wheat field outside Islamabad on Friday evening, killing all 127 people on board. It was the second major plane crash near the capital in two years, reviving worries about safety standards in a domestic aviation industry that is plagued by weak regulation, corruption and labor unrest.
The Boeing 737-200 airplane operated by Bhoja Air, a private carrier, had taken off from the port city of Karachi and was approaching Islamabad’s Main International Airport at 6:45 pm when it developed difficulties.
Initial reports suggested that a similar combination of weather and pilot error played a role in Friday’s Air Bhoja crash.
Mr. Mohmood told the private Pakistani news channel Geo that he saw the plane “descending very rapidly” before the crash. “The weather was very rough,” he said. “The pilot could not control the plane.” The death of nearly 300 people in two crashes on approach to the same airport since 2010 angered those in the aviation industry who said government oversight was weak and corrupt.
“This is not about bad weather; I don’t buy that,” said Arif Abbasi, a former chief executive of Pakistan International Airlines, the state carrier. “The state of aviation in this country leaves much to be desired.”
Investigation Continues..
As soon as the news broke every reporter along with their crew made a beeline for Benazir Bhutto International Airport. There they tried to send the latest ‘breaking news’ about this tragedy. The approach road to the crash site which is a single track with trees on both sides witnessed the twitters’ rushing there. They parked their cars on the road leading up to the site without a thought that they were blocking the only road that could allow rescue teams to reach the crash site. This just shows the crass psyche of this great nation. Get to a crash site twitter the news to all your friends and just hang around to see rescue operations taking place without lifting the fingers from the keypads of their cell phones.