Pakistan cricket team observed a minute of silence at Cazaly’s Stadium in Cairns today for the victims of PK661 before match against Cricket Australia XI.
The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight crashed into a hillside after one of its two turboprop engines failed while travelling from the city of Chitral to the capital, and burst into flames killing everyone on board.
“The bodies will be taken to Islamabad in helicopters…. for DNA testing and identification,” Muhammad Abbas, a hospital official at Ayub Medical Complex in the northern garrison town of Abbottabad, told AFP
“PIA [Flight PK-661] aircraft ATR-42 (AP-BHO) crashed near Havelian at 1642 hours, 42 passengers, five crew members and one ground engineer were on board,” PIA spokesperson said in a statement.
Read: PIA crash victims to be identified by DNA
Among those on board was Junaid Jamshed, a former pop star turned evangelical Muslim.
Before boarding the flight, Jamshed along with former cricketer Saeed Anwar met officers at the Chitral Scouts Officers Mess.
A member of Chitral’s traditional royal family, his wife and family were among the dead, besides a Chitral administration official, Osama Ahmad Warraich, whose wife and infant daughter also died.
Two Austrians and one Chinese were also among those on board.
The three day-night warm-up match will provide practice for Pakistan before three-match Test series and five-match ODI series against Australia.
