PK-661: Work on shifting debris of crashed ATR starts

ABBOTTABAD: Over 17 days after a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) ATR-42 aircraft crashed into the hillside in Havelian, officials have started removing the debris from the area.

Work on removing the debris had stalled owing to the absence of a road leading to the crash site, near Batolni village.

Havelian police said that a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MPA Aurangzeb Nalotha had provided Rs3 million to build a 1,500 meters metaled road from Banda Atai Khan to Batolni and a further 500 meters jeep track from Batolni to the hills of Gagan. The roads were completed earlier this week.

According to Havelian police, workers of a private contractor who had been tasked with shifting the debris to Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Airport in Islamabad, were packing debris into wooden boxes and transporting them to Banda Atai Khan on jeeps. There, they were loaded on to trucks for the journey to Islamabad.

Police officials said that owing to the hilly terrain, it could take a few days to completely shift the remains of the plane.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 25^th, 2016.