11 bodies flown back to Karachi

KARACHI: Family members arrived back in Karachi from Islamabad with a heavy heart.

Sorrow and grief engulfed the Quaid-e-Azam International Airport as bodies of those who died in Thursday’s plane crash started arriving on Thursday morning.

Eleven bodies had arrived at the airport on three special cargo flights until Thursday evening while 14 more are expected to arrive in the city late Thursday night.

The first flight from Islamabad arrived at 4:55 am, carrying three bodies. Two of the bodies belonged to brothers Atif Rasheed and Faisal Rasheed. Atif had married seven months ago and worked as a real estate agent while Faisal was the chief executive of Al Mehran Builders. Their funeral prayers were held at Sultan Masjid in Defence and they were buried in Al Noor Graveyard.

The third body was that of Ayesha Asif, who was a stewardess for Airblue but was travelling with her husband. They had married three days ago and were enroute to the northern areas for their honeymoon. Ayesha’s husband Shahzad Asif’s body is yet to be identified.

The second flight arrived at 4:05 pm, carrying the body of Muntajeebuddin, who was a first officer for Airblue. His funeral prayers were offered at Al Shehan Masjid and were attended by his colleagues and relatives, who laid him to rest at the Yasinabad Graveyard. Muntajeebuddin, who was a resident of Gulshan-e-Iqbal, leaves behind three children.

A third flight arrived carrying seven bodies. Shaheen Air International’s flight NL-124 arrived at 6:50 pm and carried the bodies of three youth parliamentarians information minister Syeda Rabab Zahra Naqvi, culture and sports minister Premchand and shadow minister for information Bilal Jamee. The bodies of airhostess Naheed Bhatti, ace footballer Misha Dawood, Javeria Faraz and Hina were also on the plane. Premchand’s body has been moved to Sanghar for funeral rights.

Government representatives, including  adviser to Sindh chief minister Sharmila Farooqui, MPA Raza Haroon and environment minister Sheikh Mohammad Afzal, were present at the airport.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 30^th,  2010.