Inquiry report to be made public, black box not recovered so far:Kaira
ISLAMABAD, July 28 (APP): Federal Minister for Information & Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira said on Wednesday that inquiry report of the ill-fated Air Blue plane crash would be made public as the government has nothing to get from hiding the facts. Addressing a press conference at PID media centre, he said that Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has constituted a high level inquiry team which has started its work. However he said the black box of the plane has not been recovered so far, and search for it would continue tomorrow. Chairman of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Lt Gen (retd) Nadeem Ahmed, Managing Director Pakistan Baitul Maal Zamurrad Khan, Executive Director Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), and IG Islamabad Police were also present on the occasion.


The minister appealed to the media not to air speculative news about the causes of the air crash as at this time the relatives of the deceased need consolation. He said that if any negligence or mistake on the part of the concerned staff or departments is found, the culprits would be taken to task.
The minister said that unfortunately none of the passengers or crew members could survive the tragic accident. The minister said that within half an hour of the accident, rescue teams of CDA, Pakistan Army, Air Force, Navy, NDMA, volunteers and other institutions reached the site and started rescue work. He said that first priority was to search for the injured but unfortunately, no survivor was found. He especially thanked the volunteers from civil society for their rescue work.

The minister told the media that Margalla Hills terrain is very difficult for the search operation and this problem was compounded by the weather making the job of rescuers more difficult.

Kaira said that so far 115 bodies have been recovered from the debris and rescuers would restart the search tomorrow morning for the remaining bodies. The minister said bodies were shifted to the hospital through 40 helicopter sorties. To a question, he said the debris is spread over a vast area.

Kaira said that the entire nation shares the grief of the bereaved families and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and President Asif Ali Zarrdari have expressed their condolence for the deceased and the PM has announced compensation of Rs 500,000 for the those who lost their lives in the air crash.
He said that a camp for coordination with the families of the victims is being set up at Abpara Community Centre tomorrow and appealed to the kins of the deceased to get registered there to facilitate the identification process of the bodies.

The minister said that presently two phone numbers in Interior Ministry’s Emergency Relief Cell are operative for provision of information which can be accessed at 0519211223-4. The minister appealed to the near relatives of the victims to designate a close family member as focal person so their DNA samples can be matched with the deceased passengers. Earlier while talking to media persons during his visit to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), he said at this stage it was too early to reach any conclusions. He said that DNA test of the recovered bodies are being carried out but the process takes time. He said that after identification of the bodies through DNA matching, the dead bodies would be handed over to the relatives.

The minister appealed to the victims relatives not to pay any heed to speculations and wait for completion of the inquiry. Speaking on the occasion MD Pakistan Baitul Maal Zamurd Khan said that two camps have been set up for provision of assistance to the relatives of the victims. He said that PBM would bear the cost of shifting the bodies to their natives areas. Later Qamar Zaman Kaira attended a briefing given by ED PIMS. Minister for Health Makhdoom Shahabuddin, Minister for Labour Syed Khursheed Shah, Minister of State for Religious Affairs Shagufta Jamani and Secretary Health Khushnood Lashari attended the briefing.