Published: April 20, 2012
Rescue workers and local residents search the site of a plane crash in Rawalpindi on April 20, 2012. PHOTO: AFP
KARACHI: A passenger plane, flight B4-213 of Bhoja Air, crashed at Koral Chowk on Islamabad Express Highway in Rawalpindi on Friday.
It was carrying over 100 passengers and was headed from Karachi to Islamabad.
Seat chart:
Number of adults: 110
Children: 6
Infants: 5
Total passengers: 121
Crew members: 6
Below is a list of passengers who had checked in:
1. Abbas Ali
2. Abida Javed Malik
3. Adeel Chughtai
4. Aiman Ikram
5. Altamash Khan
6. Anisa Akbar
7. Anum Hussain
8. Asif Aftab
9. Asmaa Ahmad
10. Ataur Rehman
11. Azizur Rehman
12. Baqir Mehdi
13. Bibi Hameeda
14. Chand Baboo
15. Chd Faiq
16. Dilshad Kamaal
17. Dr Abdul Qadir
18. Dr Asadullah
19. Fahira Laiq
20. Farah Sajid
21. Fatima
22. Fehmeeda Zubair
23. Ghulam Farooq Qasmi
24. Ghulam Rehman
25. Gul
26. Gul Faraz
27. Gul Sharif Jana
28. Gul Zaman
29. Habibur Rehman
30. Hafeezur Rehman
31. Hafsa Chughtai
32. Hafsa Shahid
33. Haleema Sadia
34. Hamida Khadima Baloch
35. Haris Haris
36. Husun Nisa
37. Imran Waheed
38. Irfan Ali
39. Javed Akhtar Malik
40. Javed Iqbal
41. Kalo Abbasi
42. Khwaja Raziuddin
43. Liauqat Ali
44. Masooda Begum
45. Mishir Jan
46. Mohammad Atiq Khan
47. Mrs Mohammad Latif
48. Mohammad Latif
49. Moiz Sadiq
50. Mrs Khalida
51. Ms Yumna
52. Muhammad Abdul Hafeez
53. Muhamad Anwar Khan
54. Muhammad Ashfaq Khan
55. Muhammad Farooq
56. Muhammad Irfan
57. Muhammad Irfan
58. Muhammad Qasim
59. Muhammad Shahnawaz
60. Muhammad Sohail
61. Muhammad Younus
62. Muhammada Abdullah
63. Mujtaba Siyal
64. Mukhan Jan
65. Munawar Sultana
66. Musarrat Shaheen
67. Nadir Khan Fazaldad
68. Nasreen
69. Nazmeen
70. Nighat Mehdi
71. Nihaluddin Alvi
72. Nisar Ahmed
73. Nuzhat
74. Qamar Aftab
75. Qari Muhammad Abdul Rahman
76. Rakh Shanda
77. Rakhshanda
78. Rashida Rehman
79. Raza Ali Khan Feroz
80. Ree Han
81. SM Saud Ishaq
82. Saba Amber
83. Sadaf Baloch
84.Sadaf Tanveer
85. Saeed Khan
86. Saeeda Akhtar
87. Sania Abbas
88. Sarah Chughtai
89. Sardar Shah
90. Sarwat Mumtaz
91. Shabbir Ahmad Awan
92. Shahid Iqbal
93. Shamima Abdullah
94. Shazia Baloch
95. Sobia Ubaid
96. Suleiman Chughtai
97. Sumaiyah Chughtai
98. Syed Muhammad Amjad
99. Syed Muhammad Rizwan
100. Syed Omar Ali
101. Syed Sajjad Ali Rizvi
102. Syeda Amjad Shaheen
103. Syeda Rizwan Sufia
104. Tabbasum Sarwat
105. Tabia Rehman
106. Talat Mahmood Qureshi
107. Tanveer Jan
108. Tariq Mehmood
109. Tasadouq Mahmood
110. Tasneem Begum
111. Tuba Shewar
112. Usman Rahim
113. Usman Rasheed
114. Uzma Inam
115. Wajat Abbasi
116. Waji Ha
117. Yasmin Muhammad Sultan
118. Zaheer Shah
119. Zahida Aziz
120. Zaibun Nisa
121. Zuhra Begum
Crew members:
1. Captain Noor Afridi
2. First Officer Javed Malik
3. Head of Cabin Crew Ammad
4. Flight Purser Ghazala Malik
5. Air Hostess Princess Flavia
6. Air Hostess Sanam Fareed
==============
Army soldiers search through debris following the crash of a Bhoja Air Boeing 737 plane in the outskirts of Islamabad on April 20, 2012. PHOTO: AFP
Pakistani airport civil aviation officials put up a sign with a help line number as relatives of victims of a plane crash near Islamabad gather nearby, at the airport in Karachi on April 20, 2012. PHOTO: AFP Rescue workers peer over a document as they search for survivors among the wreckage of Bhoja Air B4-213. PHOTO: MUHAMMAD JAVAID/EXPRESS TRIBUNE Pakistani villagers look at the debris from a plane following the crash of a Bhoja Air Boeing 737 on the outskirts of Islamabad on April 20, 2012. PHOTO: AFP Qamar (R), an uncle of a newly married couple who were victims of the Bhoja Air airliner crash, is consoled by a Civil Aviation Authority official at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi April 20, 2012. PHOTO: REUTERS A plane wheel (C) lies amongst debris at the scene of a plane crash as Pakistani rescue workers search for victims in the outskirts of Islamabad on April 20, 2012. PHOTO: AFP Army soldiers search through debris following the crash of a Bhoja Air Boeing 737 plane in the outskirts of Islamabad on April 20, 2012. PHOTO: AFP rescue workers search through debris following the crash of a Bhoja Air Boeing 737 plane in the outskirts of Islamabad on April 20, 2012. PHOTO: AFP Boeing 737 of Bhoja Air, travelling from Karachi to Islamabad, was carrying 121 passengers. PHOTO: ATHAR KHAN/ THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE Rescue workers and local residents search the site of a plane crash in Rawalpindi on April 20, 2012. PHOTO: AFP Relative of a passenger on board Bhoja aircraft reacts at Karachi airport. PHOTO: ATHAR KHAN/ THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE
RAWALPINDI: A passenger airliner crashed near Islamabad on Friday while trying to land during a thunderstorm, officials said, with all 127 people on board believed to be dead.
The Bhoja Air flight from Karachi burst into flames after coming down in fields near a village on the outskirts of capital Islamabad as it tried to land in rain and hail at the city’s international airport.
The airline said the Boeing 737-200 was carrying 121 passengers, including 11 children, as well as six crew.
The black box of the ill-fated aircraft has been found, CDA chairman displayed to the media.
Speaking to media early on Saturday, Rehman Malik said that the crash will thoroughly investigated and an investigative committee will be constituted soon which will examine all possible reasons for the crash.
He further said that Farooq Bhoja had been placed on the Exit Control List. He ensured that action will be taken against the culprits.
“There is no chance of any survivors. It will be only a miracle. The plane is totally destroyed,” police official Fazle Akbar told AFP from the crash site.
So far 110 bodies have been recovered from the crash site, Brigadier Sarfraz Ali, who is heading the recovery efforts, told reporters.
“We cannot identify them because some of the bodies are not recognisable,” he said.
Debris from the crash was scattered over a two kilometre (mile and a half) radius, he said, adding that lights had been brought to the site to allow work to continue through the night.
Torn fragments of the fuselage, including a large section bearing the airline’s logo, littered the fields around the village of Hussain Abad, where the plane came down.
Rescue workers in orange jumpsuits and local residents used torches to search through the wreckage after nightfall, assisted by soldiers carrying assault rifles.
Part of the airline’s name could be read on a large section of ripped white fuselage from the passenger cabin.
The smell of burning filled the air at the scene and human limbs were scattered in a large area spattered with blood, witnesses said.
An AFP reporter saw an orange flight data recorder in a house where some of the wreckage fell.
Pakistan Navy official Captain Arshad Mahmood said the crash happened as the plane approached the runway to land.
“The weather was very bad, there was hail and thunderstorm. The pilot lost control and hit the ground. It tossed up due to the impact and exploded and came down in a fireball,” he said.
Saifur Rehman, an official from the police rescue team, said the plane burst into flames after impact.
“Fire erupted after the crash. The wreckage is on fire, the plane is completely destroyed,” Rehman told Geo television.
An airport source said the plane had been due to land at Islamabad airport at 6:50pm but lost contact with the control tower at 6:40pm and crashed shortly afterwards before reaching the runway.
A probe has been ordered into the crash, Defence Secretary Nargis Sethi said, warning that traffic caused by people trying to get to the site was hindering rescue efforts.
“A team of investigators comprising senior civil aviation officials have immediately started investigations,” Sethi said.
“We are working under the direct supervision of president and prime minister.”
Nadeem Khan Yusufzai, director general of Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority, said initial reports suggested the bad weather was to blame for the crash.
Bhoja Air relaunched domestic operations with a fleet of five 737s in March, according to newspaper reports, when the airline was planning to start flights connecting Karachi, Sukkur, Multan, Lahore and Islamabad.
Bhoja had been grounded in 2000 by the Civil Aviation Authorities amid financial difficulties, the reports said.
The worst aviation tragedy on Pakistani soil came in July 2010 when an Airbus 321 passenger jet operated by the private airline Airblue crashed into hills overlooking Islamabad while coming in to land after a flight from Karachi.
All 152 people on board were killed in the accident, which occurred amid heavy rain and poor visibility.
The deadliest civilian plane crash involving a Pakistani jet came in 1992 when a PIA Airbus A300 crashed into a cloud-covered hillside on its approach to the Nepalese capital Kathmandu, killing 167 people.
The passenger list can be viewed here.
End of live updates
11: 30pm
Federal Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira, while speaking to Express News said that while availability of lights was a problem, all available resources had been deputed at the crash site to look for survivors among the wreckage.
He added that cold stores had been arranged so that body parts of the victims can be preserved till a time all the dead had been accounted for and identified. He said NADRA too had been directed to provide fingerprinting and DNA identification facilities to identify the dead.
Giving details of travel arrangements made for the families of the crash victims, he said that two flights had been arranged to fly to Islamabad on Saturday morning.
CAA authorities say last communication between the ill-fated Bhoja Air plane and Control Tower last took place at 6:40pm. They further revealed that all records of the Air Control Tower has been sealed.
11:15pm
Army officials in charge of the search and rescue operation at the crash site say that they have recovered 110 bodies, which have been dispatched to hospital.
Revealing that efforts to locate the blackbox were so far unsuccessful, he said that due to the jungle terrain over which the plane had crashed and the lack of lights which were available to the forces, search operations had become difficult.
Express News reporter Qamarul Munawar said that army troops were using sniffer dogs to locate the remains of the crash victims.
Heavy rain has started at the crash site.
Speaking to Express News, deputy chief of Pilot North PIA, Inamullah Jan said that flight B4-213 was a 24 year old 737-200. However, he maintained that the aircraft was flight worthy and no aircraft can fly till it has been given a clean bill of health by the CAA.
10:30pm
Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik, while talking to Express News from the site of the crash said that orders had been issued from the President to conduct a thorough investigation in to the crash. At the moment, Malik said that he and the Prime Minister were deciding on the level of team that will be set up to lead an investigation into the crash.
He added that while search and rescue operations were still underway, they had yet to find any survivors. He also urged that relatives of the victims should refer to PIMS hospital in Islamabad as all bodies are being sent there, and will be identified.
Confirming that arrangements had been made for the relatives of the victims to be taken to Islamabad, Malik said that not only transport to Islamabad had been arranged, but Islamabad accommodation, and additional shuttle to the hospital is being arraged. “We will extend our complete cooperation to them [relatives of victims],” the Interior Minister said.
Highlighting the obstacles, Malik said that the region where the plane had crashed was engulfed in darkness, and worse still the crash took place over a jungle.
Meanwhile, Bhoja Air officials say plane had been given a clean bill of health before take off
Express News reporter Naeem Khanzada reported that Bhoja Air official Mushtaq while addressing a press conference at Karachi airport had said that flight B4-213 had been cleared by flight engineers before starting its ill-fated journey to Islamabad.
Meanwhile a Bhoja Air official, H. R. Ishaq, who arrived at the airport, was immediately surrounded by relatives of the crash victims. He suggested that the plane had crashed due to bad weather in Islamabad.
He said that relatives of crash victims will be flown by Bhoja Air to Islamabad on Saturday morning free of cost.
Contrary to air traffic control officials, Bhoja Air representatives said that that suddenly all contact was lost just before the plane crashed.
9:58pm
CAA spokesperson Pervaiz George, speaking to the media, said the authority has arranged a hotel in Islamabad for free stay for the relatives of the victims.
He further said that another Bhoja Air plane will arrive in Karachi at around 10:30pm and will fly with the relatives of the victims to Islamabad.
He added that the plane was in a good condition.
9:52pm
Haleem Adil Shaikh, Advisor to Sindh Chief Minister on Relief Affairs, has been at the Karachi airport all evening and has been talking to the press.
Defence Secretary Narjis Sethi told Express News that operation rooms have been established and civil administration in Islamabad has also been activated. “We are doing everything possible.”
9:46pm
Deputy Commissioner Malir has announced that a PIA flight has been arranged and will take passengers’ relatives free of cost, reported Mirza.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has expressed grief over the incident.
9:43pm
An official at Islamabad airport said that six flights coming to Islamabad were diverted earlier and landed in Lahore, but the airport has reopened and the flights will start coming back
Eight bodies have been recovered so far and there is no chance of survivors. The wreckage has spread over 1.5km, reported The Express Tribune’s Umer Draz.
A Bhoja Air flight will be leaving around 11 pm with one member from each family of those killed in the crash, reported Shaheryar Mirza.
9:35pm
Defence secretary says Islamabad airport will not be closed.
An investigation team has been formed, headed by Group Captain Mujahidul Islam, on the orders of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.
9:31pm
A man who had been at 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 in a state of shock on the floor and sat silently as other relatives of passengers crowded around lists of those on board.
Among them was Zarina Bibi, desperate to determine whether her husband was on the Bhoja Air flight. “He called me before leaving Karachi but I don’t know if he was on this flight or not,” said Bibi, whose eyes were red from crying.
9:25pm
“This is not one bit different from what we went through, there is total chaos and there is no one here to help passengers’ families. Only two people are sitting at the desk as before. They are not able to provide a proper passenger list to the public,” Junaid Hamid, AirBlue Crash Affectees Convener, told The Express Tribune correspondent Shaheryar Mirza.
“Last time they weren’t able to give us a flight till early next morning and the passengers this time do not have any answers on when the next flight will be available,” he added.
The worst aviation tragedy on Pakistani soil came in July 2010 when an Airbus 321 passenger jet operated by Airblue crashed into hills overlooking Islamabad while coming in to land after a flight from Karachi.
All 152 people on board were killed in the accident, which occurred amid heavy rain and poor visibility.
9:21pm
Deputy DG of National Disaster Management Authority Mansoor Ahmed told Express News that the rush of the people is hampering the rescue work. “I want to request the people to let our cars reach the area so we can end the operation by tonight.”
Assistant commissioner of the area said that emergency has been declared in all hospitals of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. “Two ambulances just left the site with six bodies. Some bodies were shifted earlier,” he added and requested the people to move away from the area so that the rescue work can be done smoothly.
President Asif Ali Zardari has arranged a chartered plane for the victims’ families to reach Islamabad.
9:14pm
Bhoja Air relaunched domestic operations with a fleet of five 737s in March, according to newspaper reports, when the airline was planning to start flights connecting Karachi, Sukkur, Multan, Lahore and Islamabad.
Bhoja had been grounded in 2000 by the Civil Aviation Authorities amid financial difficulties, the reports said.
9:08pm
Express News correspondent Qamarul Munawwar reported that as all the rescue officials could not reach the site with all their equipment, the locals are helping by providing sheets to wrap the bodies.
He added that not a single body has been taken to a hospital from the site.
9:05pm
A rescue official told Express News that they were facing difficulty in carrying out the rescue operation as the bodies were strewn over a large area and there was very low visibility as there was no light.
“The only light we have is that from cellphones and from cars,” he said.
9:00pm
Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that wings of the plane caught fire before it crashed. Eyewitnesses said that the plane was struck by lightening.
Ten nearby houses were destroyed, but the residents remained safe.
8:58pm
Bodies are being shifted to hospitals.
CAA rescue team has been tasked to search the black box of the plane.
Islamabad airfield has been closed till midnight.
8:50pm
Dead bodies are strewn over a large area.
CDA teams, locals and rescue officials are present on the crash site and are helping rescue efforts.
Concerned people can call at 92-51-9231453 for information.
8:46pm
An official says this cannot be termed a routine accident.
There were conflicting reports about how many people were on board the plane.
A senior defence ministry official said initial reports suggested there were 126 people on board, Civil Aviation Authority said it was carrying 121 passengers and nine crew, and the chief of Islamabad police Bani Amin told AFP from the crash site that 127 were on board.
8:41pm
“There is no chance of any survivors. It will be only a miracle. The plane is totally destroyed,” police officer Fazle Akbar told AFP from the crash site.
8:34pm
Two-kilometre-long traffic jam near Islamabad airport. Ambulances finding it very hard to get through, reports The Express Tribune‘s Vaqas Asghar.
8:30pm
An eyewitness told Express News,” I was parking my car and I felt as if there was an explosion in the air. As plane parts started falling, I felt that I would die too.”
Another eyewitness said that at least 5-10 nearby houses have been destroyed and the bodies were strewn over one kilometre.
The plane blew up while it was in the air, said another eyewitness. It was raining and there was lightening when the plane blew up, he added.
“We could not make out the bodies, they were strewn all over along with plane parts,” he said.
Javed Malik was the co-pilot of the plane.
8:21pm
Saifur Rehman, an official from the police rescue team said the plane came down in Hussainabad village, about three kilometres from the main Islamabad highway.
“Fire erupted after the crash. The wreckage is on fire, the plane is completely destroyed. We have come with teams of firefighters and searchlights and more rescuers are coming,” Rehman told Geo News.
8:18pm
CAA has established a crisis cell at the Karachi airport and relatives of the passengers are asked to call at 92-21-99071384 and 92-21-99071385 for information.
8:15pm
Bhoja Air Public Relations Officer Jasir Abro said, “We want everyone to stop speculating. We’re trying to find out what happened, where, and how it happened. As soon as we find out more information about the crash the list will be made public.”
An information desk has been established on the second floor at Domestic Departures at the Karachi airport and the families of the passengers can receive information from there.
8:13pm
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has expressed deep grief over the plane crash. He has directed the CAA to use all resources for the rescue operation, reported The Express Tribune correspondent Sumera Khan.
Group Captain Mujahidul Islam, head of Safety Investigation Board CAA, will lead an inquiry into the incident.
Two operation rooms have been set up at Benazir Bhutto Benazir Bhutto International Airport in Rawalpindi and Jinnah International Airport in Karachi.
8:07pm
Rescue 1122 officials say that no one has survived the crash.
The Express Tribune correspondent Shaheryar Mirza reported that 116 people had travelled on the plane, five were reported to be infants. The flight had six crew members on board.
As many as 100 Army troops have reached the spot and have taken charge of rescue efforts.
Crash site has agricultural land and some residential plots.
7:55pm
Emergency has been declared in all hospitals of Islamabad.
As many as 100 Army personnel are on their way to the crash site for rescue work.
7:53pm
Family members of those on board have started arriving at the airports.
Air traffic control says that they did not receive any distress call from the pilot in the moments before the crash.
7:51pm
Rescue 1122 officials say that the plane has been completed destroyed and it is being feared that there are no survivors.
A witness told Dunya News that dead bodies could be seen lying all around after the jet went down before landing.
7:48pm
Express News Islamabad correspondent Qamarul Munawwar reported that rescue vehicles are still on the roads due to the traffic. The rescue officials claim that CAA is not telling them the exact site of the incident.
7:45pm
CAA former DG Junaid Ameen, talking to Express News, said the bad weather is usually not the cause of plane crashes because planes have equipments which help in dealing with the situation. “Planes are designed to fly in bad weather.”
Air traffic controllers say that the crash happened due to bad weather and confirmed that the plane belonged to Bhoja Air.
Express News correspondent in Karachi, Aftab Ali, reported that five babies were among the passengers.
7:33pm
The plane took off from Karachi at 5:00pm and was supposed to land in Islamabad at 6:40pm but crashed just before touchdown, reported Geo News.
Witnessed told Dunya News that flame could be seen rising from the crash site and the fire has reportedly engulfed several buildings.
Army troops have also been moved to the area where the plane crashed.
7:28pm
Plane was supposed to fly over Jinnah Garden to approach its destination and land at the airport.
The crash site has been cordoned off by Koral police.
7:25pm
Sources say that the plane crashed in a residential area in Jinnah Garden, but it has not been confirmed.
All rescue vehicles of Islamabad and Rawalpindi have been rushed to the spot including fire tenders, but traffic jam near the crash site is hampering rescue vehicles from reaching the site.
7:20pm
CAA authorities have refrained from giving out any official statement.
This was the first flight of Bhoja Air after the service started.
7:17pm
It is currently raining in Rawalpindi and it being suggested that the bad weather could have been the cause of the plane crash.
According to authorities, the plane crashed 10km away from the runway of Islamabad airport, near Chaklala airbase.
Rescue officials from Islamabad and Rawalpindi, as well as the Civil Aviation Authority, have left for the crash site.
===================
Pakistani plane crashes with 127 on board
Fri, Apr 20 19:36 PM EDT
image
1 of 11
By Mahawish Rezvi and Chris Allbritton
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - 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 from the airport.
Rawal Khan Maitla, director general of Emergency Disaster Management for the Capital Development Authority, said there were no survivors.
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."
(Additional reporting by Qasim Nauman, Rebecca Conway and Rehan Sheikh in ISLAMABAD and Sahar Ahmed in KARACHI; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Alison Williams)
============
SA Time: April 21, 2012 11:37:59 AM
Plane had been bought from CAA
April 21 2012 at 09:58am
Comment on this story
iol pic wld pakistan plane crash
REUTERS
Paramilitary soldiers and members of the media gather near the wreckage of a Boeing 737 airliner that crashed in Islamabad.
The Bhoja Air plane which crashed near Islamabad, killing all 127 people on board, was nearly three decades old, officials said Saturday, but had been approved to fly by aviation authorities.
The Boeing 737-200 was 28 years old and had been bought on dry lease from a South African company, a Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) official who asked not to be named told AFP.
A Bhoja Air official insisted that despite its age, the plane was safe to fly.
“The aircraft was old and second hand but it is not something unusual. The fleet of state-run Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) also runs old aircraft,” Bhoja Air official Masham Zafar told AFP.
“Airlines rarely have brand new planes, and this aircraft was also refurbished.
“There was no technical issue and bad weather is to blamed. The plane left with CAA certification after normal check at Karachi airport and it was given clearance by the CAA to land at the Islamabad airport.”
Bhoja Air was one of the first private airlines to set up in Pakistan after the country's skies were opened up beyond the national flag-carrier Pakistan International Airlines in 1993.
It began domestic operations in the 1990s and ran international flights as far afield as the United Arab Emirates, but had its licence suspended in 2000 after failing to pay dues to CAA.
“The company's licence has been restored in March this year permitting them to operate domestic flights after it assured us that it would repay the longstanding dues and keep up with the standard procedures,” the CAA official said.
“It was the first evening flight for Islamabad, which met (with) the huge tragedy.”
The official said that aside from the plane which crashed, Bhoja has another 737-200 in use and a more modern 737-400 which is awaiting CAA approval to fly.
With its slogan “For those who love to fly”, Bhoja Air launched its operations initially for five domestic destinations and had ambitious plans to extend its network to more cities.
It had launched an aggressive publicity campaign through local newspapers offering the lowest fares among the competition.
“The Bhoja Air was offering lower fares for its flights than the rest of the airlines. Such prices were introductory to carve better clientele in a competitive market,” said a local travel agent Mohammad Junaid.
A second CAA official said the pilot of the doomed flight Noor Ullah Afridi and first officer Javed Mushtaq joined the airline after retiring as pilots from Pakistan Air Force. - AFP
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Bhoja Air crash: 'Acceleration at low height caused mid-air explosion'
By Web Desk
Published: April 21, 2012
Initial investigation report from air traffic control reveals plane's rapid descend caused fuel tank to burst. PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE
An initial investigation report compiled with information received from air traffic control has revealed that the Bhoja Air plane was flying at 500km per hour which caused the fuel tank to burst, resulting in a mid-air explosion, scattering debris for miles around, Express News reported on Saturday.
The plane, which was in landing position, should have been at 1,500 to 1,700ft above ground and was only at 200ft and was travelling at 500km, Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) sources said.
The plane was 10km away from the runway, considering this, the plane was flying too low and too fast to make the landing, sources told Express News.
According to the initial investigation report, the last words the co-pilot said to air traffic control were “I have lost control of the plane”, after which they lost contact with the plane at around three minutes before crash.
Sources said that this report was not made with information from the black box and was just a result of initial investigations conducted.
Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira, talking to the media, vowed that the investigation into the crash will be done as soon as possible. “We will make sure that there is no human delay… We will try to arrange for the compensation as well.”
When asked about the investigation of the Airblue crash, Kaira said that the investigation was done and the report was presented to the public too, now it is up to them whether they want to believe the report or not.
“AirBlue belongs to our opponent party, why would we have hidden the truth?” he questioned and added that before the details of the Bhoja crash come, everything will be ‘just speculations’.
He announced that the CAA will hold a press conference at 4pm and further added that 115 bodies of the crash victims have been identified.
The passenger flight travelling from Karachi to Islamabad carrying 121 passengers and six crew members came hurtling down towards the outskirts of Rawalpindi at 6:46pm on Friday evening.
Among the passengers were five infants and six children. There were no survivors.
Bhoja Air’s aged B737-200 took off from Karachi airport at 5:05pm and crashed five nautical miles from Islamabad airport on the village of Hussainabad. However, rescuers said people on the ground remained largely safe as the bulk of the wreckage fell in an open area.
========
Aircrafts are made to handle lightening unless of course it’s an old ageing aircraft with an expired fuselage. Newsweek caaried an article recently on the Boeing 737 fuselage failures due to metal fatigue.
Part of the airline’s name could be read on a large portion of the fuselage ripped off the passenger cabin.
Sonia: The Tehrik Taliban Pakistan member group Ghazi Abdul Rasheed Shaheed (the Lal Masjid Moulvi) Trust are busy building a huge madressah and mosque on a piece of land donated by the management of Jinnah Gardens only few yards from the crash site. Future landings also not guranteed?
ALAFCO earned net profit of KD18.3m for the first half ended March 31, 2012
Kuwait: 35 minutes ago
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ALAFCO's Chairman & CEO, Ahmad A. Alzabin, announced the company's first half financial result for the period ended March 31, 2012. He said the company achieved a net profit of KD18.3m, and earnings per share of Fils 23.4 during the first half.
Alzabin explained that the net profit included exceptional profit realized through the adjustment of some purchase agreements with aircraft manufacturers.
During the first half, ALAFCO firmed up the transaction to purchase 85 A320neo aircraft from Airbus valued at $7.65bn at list prices, thus positioning itself to reach its target of a 100 aircraft portfolio by the end of the decade. Also during the period, the company leased 3 Airbus A320-200 aircraft to Vietjet Air in Vietnam for a period of 8 years.
ALAFCO is a Kuwait-based aircraft leasing company. Its stock trades on the Kuwait Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol ALAFCO. The company's owned aircraft portfolio consists of 48 Boeing and Airbus aircraft leased to airlines globally. In addition, ALAFCO manages another 12 aircraft for investors.
Living horror: Charred remains, debris litter crash site
By Mudassir Raja / Vaqas Asghar
Published: April 21, 2012
Rescue workers search through debris following the crash of a Bhoja Air Boeing 737 plane in the outskirts of Islamabad on April 20, 2012. PHOTO: AFP
HUSSAINABAD:
Smog and the smell of smouldering wreckage filled the eerie air where charred fuselage of the Bhoja Air Boeing 737 lay scattered in a village, about eight kilometres from Benazir International Airport’s runway.
After initial chaos, army troops managed to cordon off the crash site as rescuers in orange jumpsuits and residents of Hussainabad village flashed torches to sift through the wreckage for survivors – but unfortunately there were none. A pall of gloom hung in the air and wailing ambulances could be heard in the distance. All roads leading to Hussainabad, including Islamabad Expressway, were clogged.
A fleet of ambulances from Rescue 1122, Capital Development Authority, Edhi and different hospitals of the twin-cities, were caught in a traffic snarl. Rain and stormy winds added to their problems.
The debris was scattered in Hussainabad village and adjoining farmland. Part of the airline’s name could be read on a large portion of the fuselage ripped off the passenger cabin.
The site was littered with burnt out luggage, blood-stained wreckage, and remains of some of the victims were covered with coloured sheets at the edge of a field.
A rescue official said apart from ‘three to four children’ all bodies were charred beyond recognition.
Part of the plane’s wing fell on a house in Hussainabad. The owner, Intezar Hussain, said it damaged a balcony but caused no casualties.
“The plane came down with a bang,” his son Jaffer Hussain said. “Its pilot perhaps tried to land into the farmland. It hit trees and exploded,” he said.
Other residents said they saw a flash in the air before the plane fell down with a thud, snapping the main cables supplying electricity to the area.
“I was returning home from work. As I approached my village, I saw something like a lightning bolt followed by a bang,” Malik Javiad Akhtar, a resident of Hussainabad, told The Express Tribune.
“I reached the site within 15 minutes of the crash. The area, around one kilometre in radius, was strewn with human debris and wreckage of the plane,” Akhtar said.
“It all happened in front of my eyes. I rushed away to save my life. When I looked back I saw flames coming out of the plane,” another witness added.
According to rescue officials, about 50 houses in the village were damaged – but there were no casualties on the ground.
While many people stepped forward to help with rescue efforts, some saw in the crash an opportunity to steal. Two men, on their way to the site, discussed how they would mingle with volunteers and steal undamaged luggage. (With additional input from agencies)
Published in The Express Tribune, April 21st, 2012.
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Bhoja crash: Investigations may not take too long, says DG CAA
By Ema Anis
Published: April 21, 2012
Soldiers stand amid the wreckage of a Boeing 737 airliner that crashed in Islamabad April 21, 2012. PHOTO: REUTERS
ISLAMABAD: Investigations into the Bhoja air crash might not take too long to complete, Director-General (DG) Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Nadeem Yousafzai expressed hope while speaking to the media on Saturday.
“The investigation of this crash may not take too long, as the landing gear was down and the plane crashed on a flat terrain… Its parts disintegrated over almost 4km, which will be easier to assemble and examine,” Yousafzai explained.
He added that the Black Box had been sent over to concerned authorities and its examination might take one month. “Depending on the type of the crash, the final result of the inquiry may take up to three months to one year.”
Ruling out the possibility of harsh weather being the cause of the crash, the DG explained that there are proper systems set up to predict the weather and warnings are issued if the weather is harsh.
“I heard the conversation [between the air control tower and the pilot] myself. The tower told the pilot that it was clear to land. The pilot acknowledged and pulled the landing gear down. But immediately after, the communication got lost and the plane started going into a dive,” he told the media. “What happened in this period needs to be investigated.”
He added that an Airblue flight landed at Islamabad airport around five minutes after the crash and it was “right behind the Bhoja plane”. The visibility was also till 4km, he said.
But the DG refrained from making any final comments on the crash. “There could be other reasons too… I won’t comment and I’ll request you all to refrain from commenting as well… Issuing a statement before the investigation completes can damage the outcome of the inquiry and affect the families of the victims.”
He announced that the investigation will be done on international standards, and Bhoja Air has been directed to issue compensation to the victims’ families at the earliest. “We will monitor their progress.”
When asked whether the CAA was put under political pressure to resume the functions of Bhoja Air, the DG said that the body ranks number 10 worldwide. “We, as a nation, have a culture of mud-slinging… Let me tell you that CAA does not compromise on security.”
He announced that out of 122 victims, bodies of 115 have been identified while the DNA test of 12 is in progress, and 113 bodies have been handed over to the families.
He thanked the government, agencies, the fire department and all other people involved in the rescue work. “I especially want to thank PIA and MD PIA for arranging a flight for the victims’ families and for announcing to carry the bodies free of cost.
The passenger flight travelling from Karachi to Islamabad carrying 121 passengers and six crew members came hurtling down towards the outskirts of Rawalpindi at 6:46pm on Friday evening.
Among the passengers were five infants and six children. There were no survivors.
Bhoja Air’s aged B737-200 took off from Karachi airport at 5:05pm and crashed five nautical miles from Islamabad airport on the village of Hussainabad. However, rescuers said people on the ground remained largely safe as the bulk of the wreckage fell in an open area.
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Bhoja Air crash: Officials differ over the events that led to crash
By Umer Nangiana / Mudassir Raja
Published: April 22, 2012
Rescue workers combing the site for bodies from the site of the plane crash. EXPRESS TRIBUNE PHOTO/MYRA IQBAL
ISLAMABAD:
From what the initial probe report indicates, a possible reason for Friday’s tragic Bhoja Air crash that killed 127 people was a technical fault.
The report states that the aircraft caught fire mid-air, and most likely exploded before the debris hit the ground.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), however, indicated the contrary. CAA Director General (DG) Nadeem Yousufzai, while talking to the media on Saturday, categorically said that the airfield was visible despite harsh weather and the plane’s captain had been given a green signal for landing.
“After this it was the pilot’s discretion to land or not,” said Yousafzai, indicating that it was not a technical fault but rather the pilot’s indiscretion.
He said that an Airblue flight landed on the same runway two minutes after flight B 213’s crash.
The initial probe report submitted to the ministry of interior said that the plane lost height and came down to 2,000 feet at 300 miles per hour. The pilot informed the central aviation officials he lost control over the aircraft but soon lost contact with the Air Traffic Control (ATC) tower at 6:40 pm, after which it crashed.
Some of the witnesses at Hussainabad village, the crash site, also told The Express Tribune that they saw the plane catching fire mid-air.
However, Yousafzai ruled out the possibility of the plane catching fire and exploding in air. After listening to the conversation between the pilot and the control tower and visiting the crash site, Yousafzai suggested “the aircraft hit the ground and bounced off before crashing”. In the face of such contradictions, a CAA official did say the preliminary report was only a starting point and could not be relied upon to fix responsibility entirely. Vital evidence – in the form of that gained from the plane’s Black Box and voice recorder recovered from the crash site – is still to be included and investigated.
“The plane looked like a fire ball descending onto the earth like a meteor,” the official said, quoting the report.
The Koral police station SHO said, “They (investigators) visited today and asked us not to remove the wreckage for two more days,” in order to continue investigations. The bodies, however, have been removed from the crash site.
Refusing to comment on the progress of the inquiry committee headed by Group Capt (retd) Mujahidul Islam, the head of the CAA Safety Investigation Board and a veteran aviation investigator, Yousafzai said the aircraft was flight-worthy regardless of its age.
“CAA experts gave the plane a proper fitness certificate before it took off from Karachi,” he said. “Flight safety is not often linked with a plane’s age. It depends on the suitability for flight.”
Yousafzai added that the CAA was in contact with Bhoja for paying compensation to victims’ families. He said the CAA gave clearance to Bhoja Air to resume services following full payment of its pending dues. However, some CAA officials claimed that certain members of the authority’s high command were not willing to grant the clearance but were pressurised.
Bhoja Air’s CEO Arshad Jalil allegedly used his contacts in government circles to get the clearance. However, there was no on-record confirmation of this information.
Besides positing possible reasons for the crash, the initial report also prompted the Islamabad police to act quickly and book the owner of Bhoja Air, Farooq Bhoja.
Bhoja detained
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) appeared to act on this advice promptly, at least partially. The agency detained the airline’s chairman Bhoja for questioning on Saturday. Bhoja dropped a bombshell, however, by telling the authorities that he owns only 5 per cent of the airline’s shares, while 80 per cent of the shares are owned by Jalil, his wife and his son.
Bhoja told investigators that Jalil has previously been MD for defunct airline Aero Asia and was also the CEO of Shaheen Air. He added that Jalil is currently in China with his wife. He said that the remaining 15 per cent of shares are owned equally by directors Zeeshan Karimi and Muzahir Hussain.
On the instructions of the interior ministry, the FIA has registered an inquiry in the Corporate Crime Circle. Sindh FIA Director Moazzam Jah Ansari told Express that the airline’s records and the certification of the aircraft have been taken into custody from his office and are being examined.
PM orders judicial probe
Bhoja seems to be in as much trouble as his airline. A judicial commission was formed by the interior ministry on the directives of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Saturday to probe the crash.
The three-member judicial commission, headed by Justice (retd) Zahid Hussain includes Justice (retd) Wasim Kausar and Justice Naseem Sikandar. The commission will decide whether Bhoja Air will be allowed to continue operations, investigate the aircraft’s track record and chalk out a strategy to prevent such accidents in the future.
President Asif Ali Zardari also summoned the defence minister on Saturday and order that inquiries be made into progress as far as facilitating victims’ families is concerned. (WITH ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SUMERA KHAN IN ISLAMABAD AND ADIL JAWAD IN KARACHI)
Published in The Express Tribune, April 22nd, 2012.
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On 7 November 1993, Bhoja Air started operations on domestic routes between Karachi, Lahore and Quetta with a dry leased Boeing 737-200. It was registered in Pakistan making Bhoja the first private airline in the country to operate a Western manufactured aircraft. Bhoja Air is a privately owned airline of the Bhoja Group of Companies with its head office at Shahrah–e-Liaquat, Karachi and corporate offices at KDA society.
In 1996, it signed a deal with the handling agent group OGDENS with complete ground handling equipment at Karachi, capable of handling Boeing 747s. In the same year another sister company, Pakistan Aviators and Aviation located at Lahore International airport was purchased[by whom?], along with a hotel for passenger stop-overs.
On 24 January 1998 Bhoja Air commenced international flights from Karachi to Dubai. Later, Bhoja Air operated flights to the U.A.E from all major cities of Pakistan. However due to financial difficulties, Bhoja Air suspended its operations in 2001, although its airline licence issued by CAA – Pakistan remained valid and it maintained a fully functional headquarters office in Karachi and an operations and ramp office at Karachi airport.
Bhoja Air restarted operations in 2012 after Arshad Jalil bought 80% shares and used his influence to issue clearance certificates from authorities. M. Farouk Omar Bhoja is the owner of airline but hold only 5% shares where 80% shares are held with Arshad Jalil family and remaining 15% shares are held by various others.[2][3]
================
Wind shear may have caused the tragedy
From the Newspaper | Baqir Sajjad Syed | 1 day ago
16
map-bhoja-air-670
Soon after the accident, the government ordered an inquiry. It will be conducted by aviation regulator – CAA’s Safety Investigation Board. - Photo by Dawn
ISLAMABAD: As the pilots of Bhoja Air Flight B4-213 attempted to land amidst rain and strong winds, the unlucky aircraft might have flown into an unexpected wind shear that possibly smashed it on the ground below.
Soon after the accident, the government ordered an inquiry. It will be conducted by aviation regulator – CAA’s Safety Investigation Board. It would be months before the CAA team comes up with an explanation for the accident.
The probe will look into various aspects — weather, pilots’ role, the condition of equipment, and handling by air traffic controllers and sabotage. Safety record of the airline, whose operations remained suspended for not fulfilling the required criteria, would certainly come under question.
However, pilots and air accident experts, who helped Dawn analyse the tragedy by putting together the chronology of events, say the crash was fairly consistent with what could have been caused by a wind shear. Unfortunately neither the ageing aircraft nor the ill-equipped airport had wind shear detection systems that could have forewarned the pilots and ground controllers. The result was a catastrophe. Wind shear is a meteorological phenomenon involving fast changing wind patterns, mostly downdrafts, that could cause a landing aircraft to lose speed and altitude. If proven this could be possibly the first case of air crash in Pakistan caused by wind shear.
An official of the Met Department confirmed wind shear in the area surrounding the airport at the time of the crash. The pilots were landing under a strong headwind of 30 knots (about 35 mph) picking up to a maximum of 40 knots (some 46 mph) after getting clearance from air traffic control at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport. Airport Manager Ashfaq Hussain confirmed that the aircraft had been cleared to land and there wasno signal of distress from the pilots till they were last in contact with the traffic controllers.
The plane at the time of the accident was flying at about 1500 to 1800 feet. Witnesses say that then it suddenly started to drop and within seconds plummeted to the ground. As the aircraft was making an approach for landing, it is evident that pilots had reduced engine power by then and once caught in the wind shear they had very little time to increase the speed to come out of it.
The aircraft apparently then stalled and fell to the ground. Air planes while landing particularly become vulnerable to wind shear because the wheels and flaps are down, inducing a drag, and engines are not operating at full throttle, making it difficult to remain airborne. On the ground the Bhoja Air jet broke into four pieces with no major signs of burning.
Waleed Hassan, an aviation enthusiast, talking to this correspondent from the site of the accident, said he hadn’t seen any fire tenders putting out fire or smelt burnt substance.
Yes, some of the recovered engine pieces were blackened. This was consistent with the claims by some witnesses, who said they saw one of the engines on fire before the jet came down. Experts say the pilots after getting caught in wind shear may have tried to get out of it by applying power, but one of the engines in the process may have flamed out, in causing the plane to go into ‘unusual attitude’. A lesser likelihood, the experts said, could be fuel depletion.
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Pakistan Plane Crash 2012: Chequered past of Karachi-based Bhoja Air
Pakistan’s Bhoja Air, whose ill-fated 27-year-old Boeing 737 aircraft that crashed near Rawalpindi, 10 km away from Islamabad’s Benazir Bhutto International Airport on Friday, with 127 on board, had a chequered past.
Bhoja Air came under debt crisis and ceased its operations in 2000 but re-launched in 2011. In fact, the ill-fated flight was on its maiden flight from Karachi to Islamabad after a gap of 11 years. Bhoja Air has resumed its flights just a month ago after nursing bad debts for over a decade following cancellation of its flights in 2001. It had retained its license throughout, though.
The Karachi-based airlines was among the first to start private flights in Pakistan in 1993 with leased aircraft Boeing 737-200. It had announced its maiden flight on its website on April 20 proudly but the fate has turned different for the ailing airlines.
Incidentally, the aircraft Boeing 737-200 was retired by Shaheen Airlines but was put into service by the Bhoja Air last month.
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Passenger plane escapes accident as tyre bursts amid landing
DawnNews | DAWN.COM | 6 mins ago
0
Karachi airport runway was shut down following the incident, and all flights to and from the airport were suspended till 5 pm today.—Reuters (File Photo)
KARACHI: Less than two days after an airline jet crashed near Islamabad that killing all 127 people onboard, another plane narrowly escaped a major accident on Sunday at the Karachi Airport runway.
The plane suffered problems when one of its tyres burst causing the aircraft to tilt towards its side during landing.
The Karachi airport runway was shut down following the incident.
The Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has launched a probe of the matter and all flights to and from the airport were suspended till 5 pm today.
The plane, which was a Boeing 737 belonging to private airline Shaheen Airways,
Some passengers on board the plane complained that the pilot never opened the emergency gates and the passengers were stranded on the aircraft for at least half an hour following the accident.
Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar has also has ordered an inspection of all aircraft being operated by private airlines in Pakistan.
Meanwhile, at the Lahore airport, a flight bound for Mashhad, Iran was delayed due to technical difficulties.
According to reports, flight number 742 was delayed due to a leakage in the jet’s fuel tank. However, officials at the private airline said the reason for the delay was over-fueling.
=====================================================================By Saad HasanPublished: April 22, 2012A video grab of Farooq Bhoja from two weeks ago when the service was relaunched. PHOTO: EXPRESSKARACHI: At around 7pm on Saturday Omar Farooq Bhoja didn’t know that news of him being taken into custody was making the rounds on television channels.“What? Have I been taken into custody? Who said that?” he said speaking to The Express Tribune. When told about the news tickers, he paused for a while and then said: “Bas! Allah malik hay.” The phone went dead after that.The news channels quoted the Federal Investigation Agency. Legal and insurance experts say what could follow is a long battle for the fragile Bhoja Air, which renewed operations just last month.In the last two aircraft crashes involving Pakistani airlines, the relatives were compensated in varying amounts. Airblue agreed to pay Rs5.5 million to each family of the 152 people onboard the flight which crashed on July 28, 2010. Most of them have taken the money but some are fighting cases.After the 2006 Fokker crash of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), it paid Rs2 million per family. “I am pretty sure that Bhoja would have to compensate with Rs5.5 million. A precedent has been set by Airblue,” said Yahya Adeel, an aviation lawyer. “The Carriage by Air Act 2011 says a family must be compensated by Rs500,000. But that is in conflict with a lot of international conventions.”Pakistan is a signatory to the Montreal Convention, which says families of the dead be given 100,000 SDRs (special drawing rights) in damages. Each SDR is equal to $1,544, which comes to around Rs14 million.The sponsor of Airblue, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, says he was lucky to have good insurance cover. “The international reinsurers were able to quickly mobilise funds.”About the perception of an airline after a crash, he said the business must continue to run. “That is very important. We didn’t stop the flights. And trust me after 10 per cent seat cancellations following the crash, things were back to normal in three days.”Published in The Express Tribune, April 22nd, 2012.
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Mehfil-e-Mustafa (Qusais Imambargah) Dubai
Majlis to commemorate Shahadat e Bibi Fatima Zehra (sa) will be held on Thursday 25-Apr at 8:00 pm sharp. The program will begin with recitation of Sura e Yaseen followed by Dua e Kumail, Majlis and Noha o Matam. Niaz will be served thereafter.
Majlis and niaz is for the Isale sawab of:
* Marhoom Haji Habib Jaffer Ali & Marhoom family members
* Mehdi Raza Najumul Hasan Bhojani & Marhoomeen of Bhojani family.
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