picture source : BBC Urdu

July 28, 2010 Wednesday morning, the day began with monsoon rains heavily showering in the capital city of Pakistan with most of the Margalla hills and surrounded area covered with thick fog and clouds. Many flights had been suspended or delayed due to bad weather early today.

A local airline’s jet craft Airbus 321 carrying about 152 travelers was spotted flying very low above the capital city; the turbulence in the plane was visible. In matter of minutes, the unfortunate jet hit the Margala Hills with a loud bang. The eye witnesses to the crash reported plumes of ash and clouds of smoke rising up the crash site. The Margala hills, rocky mountains, densely covered with trees and bushes made the possibility of any survivors much difficult as the crash site midst of the mountain along with a foggy weather is an extremely challenging and difficult terrain for any rescue teams, fire fighters and paramedics to reach the spot timely. Army helicopters flew despite bad weather however, the rescue workers dig to the bodies under flaming debris nearly bear handed. The thin muddy paths that lead to the crash site in the heart of densely wooded mountain, considering the recent heavy rains in the city, make the on-foot access to the area nearly as difficult as impossible. Initial reports confirmed around 2 to 5 severely injured survivors taken to the hospital, lately declared dead making the crash a tragic “no survivor” incident. Emergency measures are taken in all major capital hospitals where the grieved await ambulances in tears and sobbing. The main roads to the Margala Hills are blocked so far. 

The sad incident left the entire nation in great pain and grief. Pakistan is a country already facing hundreds of life losses at the hands of suicide bombing nearly every month. However, there has not been any passenger plane crash in the country for decades.

The private local airline Air Blue discontinued services a few years back, resuming in recent years and is considered as one of the low cost airlines flying the most popular domestic flight to Islamabad from Karachi . The communication between the control tower and the craft broke before the crash and it is too early to determine any valid causes for the crash that took place only minutes before landing in Islamabad airport. Miraculously, there have been a few fortunate passengers, who missed their flight of the Air Blue airbus 321.