Bodies of plane crash victims handed over to relatives: PIA spokesman

Spokesman of Pakistan International Airlines Danyal Gilani said on Saturday that as many as 44 bodies of the ATR crash victims were handed over to their relatives. "In total, 47 persons lost their lives in the tragic December 7 crash. 11 bodies were brought to Chitral by a special flight. Senior PIA officials and members of aggrieved families accompanied the bodies," he said, adding that one family chose to travel by road but all expenses were borne by PIA.
He further said that the aggrieved families were also provided needed facilities by PIA for transporting bodies to their villages. The PIA spokesman said that the burial of all 12 victims belonging to Chitral would be done by this afternoon in Chitral and nearby areas. He said that the dead bodies of all Pakistanis onboard the ill-fated flight PK-661 now handed over. "However the dead bodies of 3 foreigners have been kept in PIMS mortuary till formalities of handing over are completed," he said.
CEO PIA, Bernd Hildenbrand, has appreciated the efforts of all PIA employees who took part in providing relief to the bereaved families, especially the scouts and emergency response team who worked round the clock at the camps set up at PIMS hospital and at Rawat cold storage. In response to the media queries regarding the PK-368, Gilani said, as the ATR aircrafts were grounded PIA had planned a dip at Sukkur to facilitate the passengers.
"It was planned ahead of time and passengers were informed beforehand about this diversion on the contact numbers which they had given at the time of reservation," he said, adding that at least 53 passengers travelled on this flight on Karachi-Sukkur sector while 23 travelled on Sukkur-Islamabad sector.
"Since the grounding of ATR fleet, PIA has rerouted dozens of flights to adjust the passengers. The process of diversions and flight adjustments will continue till the ATR aircraft remain grounded so that passengers travelling on those sectors can be facilitated," he said. The spokesman emphasized that the flight was not diverted because of any individual.
Responding to media queries regarding the letter written by Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the PIA he said that the CAA is a regulatory body which issues instructions to all operating airlines from time to time. He said PIA complies with these instructions accordingly.
"Regarding the shakedown tests of ATR aircraft please note that PIA has contacted Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), i.e. Pratt and Whitney, for obtaining their advice, on the directions of CAA," he said, adding that the letter was written after the December 7 crash but PIA had already been doing inspection and maintenance of its aircraft as per manuals at proper times in accordance with the international standards.