Pakistan cricket team observes minute's silence for PIA victims

Flight number 661 crashed near Abbottabad, killing all passengers and crew members on board

Members of Pakistan cricket team observed a minute of silence at Cazaly’s Stadium in Cairns today before beginning their tour match against Cricket Australia XI.

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight number 661 crashed near Abbottabad while travelling from Chitral to Islamabad, killing all passengers and crew members on board.

“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.



Among those on board was Junaid Jamshed, a former pop star turned evangelical Muslim.

Heaven on Earth Chitral.
With my friends in the Path of Allah . Snowpacked Tirchmir right behind us pic.twitter.com/ZajcWEKlrG

— Junaid Jamshed (@JunaidJamshedPK) December 4, 2016

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.