Karachi: DG Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has ordered probe into Multan plane crash and constituted an investigation team of experts of PIA and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for this purpose.According to the statement issued by CAA here today, the investigation team comprised of Air Commodore Junaid Amin, who is president special investigation board and Wing Commander Syed Nasim.
The statement said that the PIA Fokker plane crash occurred near Multan airport, which claimed 45 precious lives here Monday afternoon, however the cause of the incident has yet to be ascertain.
Television reports said people were trapped inside, but fire officials did not immediately confirm that At least two people were taken to hospital .
White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters the incident did not appear to be terror-related.“As far as we know at this point, there is no terrorism nexus,” he said.
Heavy black smoke rose high above the building, wedged between taller structures on 62nd Street between Park and Madison Avenues just a few blocks from Central Park. Damage, including shattered windows, could be seen at one of the adjoining buildings.
The building reportedly housed a doctor’s office and a beauty salon.
TV host Larry King, who had been in his hotel room nearby, described the explosion to CNN as sounding like a bomb and feeling like an earthquake. “I’ve never heard a sound like that,” King said.
Yaakov Kermaier, 36, a resident in a building next door, whose newborn baby escaped unharmed, said he was outside when he heard “a deafening boom. I saw the whole building explode in front of me. Everybody started running, nobody knew what was coming next.”
Thad Milonas, 57, was operating a coffee cart across from the building when he said the ground shook and the building came down. “In a few seconds, finished,” Mr Milonas said. “The whole building collapsed.” He said he saw at least four injured people, including two bleeding women he helped from the scene.
Streets around the area were closed off to traffic as ambulances and rescue units responded just before 9 am local time.
Karachi: PPP chairperson and former Prime Minister Ms. Benazir Bhutto has expressed profound grief over death of 45 passengers in PIA plane crash in Multan on Monday. In her condolence message released here by Media Cell, Bilawal House, Karachi, Ms. Bhutto said she was extremely grieved on tragic accident and shares the feelings of bereaved families.
She said the experts had already suggested the authorities for grounding the Fokker aircraft of PIA fleet.
Ms. Bhutto demanded probe into plane crash and determining the persons responsible for the tragic accident that claimed precious lives.
The Ministers briefed the Governor about problems of their respective districts and electoral constituencies.
They expressed their trust in Dr Ishrat-ul-Ebad as an impartial Governor and representative of the Center and hoped for having his continued cooperation in future, as well as ensuring very well management of the affairs of coalition government.
In the meeting commitment was expressed that the parties in the coalition government will keep working keenly for the progress and betterment of people and the Province with complete harmony and confidence.
The Governor held an exchange of views with them on rural-urban cohesion, development works and the steps for bringing various sections of population closer to each other.
Expressing complete confidence in the policies of President Pervez Musharraf, they showed their determination to use their entire capabilities for the implementation of his policies and reform programmes.
Governor Ishrat-ul-Ebad Khan assured the Ministers of extending his all out cooperation for solution of problems and government's improved performance.
He said all matters concerning the Center will be brought to the Center's notice so that problems are resolved and relief could reach the common people.
Present in the meeting were Pir Sadruddin Shah Rashdi, Sardar Manzoor Hussain Panhwar, Waseem Akhtar, Imtiaz Shaikh, Ali Bux (Pappu Shah), Altaf Unnar and others officials.
"It did not come as a surprise," spokesman Tony Snow told reporters. "We were aware, and understood it would be a routine test."
India shrugged off the unsuccessful maiden test of its ambitious rocket, as red-faced defense scientists began trying to work out what went wrong.
The Agni-III missile, which Indian defense sources say has a range of 4,000 kilometres (2,480 miles), developed problems after a successful take-off Sunday from a site off India's east coast.
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KARACHI: A Pakistan Navy Ship has rescued 28 persons stranded in a boat near the coast of Iran. The boat was carrying illegal Pakistani immigrants from Iran to Oman. This was stated in a press release of the ISPR (Navy) issued here Monday.
Giving details, it said that 53 Pakistanis who were illegally transported to Iran by various agents in Pakistan and Iran charging Rs 25,000 to RS 50,000 per head, were being onward dispatched to Oman.
While on their way, one of the boats developed some technical fault and became non operational. The agents along with 25 illegal immigrants fled in the other boat leaving behind 28 persons in the defected boat at the mercy of rough sea and inclement weather.
The persons remained stranded without food and water for about 34 hours.
PNS Tariq, which is the part of CMCP, while operating in the area, found the boat lying helpless in the open sea.
The ship immediately shifted the stranded people onboard. All the persons were found severely dehydrated and six of them who were in critical condition were detained in sickbay.
The rescued persons were provided with food and requisite medical treatment.
After necessary formalities, the individuals along with the rescued boat were handed over to the Maritime Security Agency, it was further stated.
KHAN YOUNAS: Exiled Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal said Monday that an Israeli soldier held captive by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip will be treated as a ”prisoner of war” and his life protected.“The laws of prisoners of war are applicable” in the case of the soldier who was seized in an attack on an Israeli army post on the Gaza border on June 25, Meshaal, told a rare press conference in Damascus.
“Our values require us to protect his life,” he said.
Recent reports have suggested that Meshaal, who escaped a Mossad attempt on his life in Jordan in 1997, has blocked mediation efforts to secure the soldier’s release.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has also ordered two envoys to meet with Meshaal and Syrian leaders to discuss the fate of the soldier and Israel’s assault on Gaza, which has left 42 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier dead.
Palestine Liberation Organisation executive committee members Taysir Khalid and Abdullah Horani were due to leave on their mission Monday although it is not clear when their talks will take place.
BAGHDAD: Over 22 people have been killed in attacks across Iraq as sectarian bloodshed raged on in Baghdad, raising new fears that the country was sliding towards civil war. Ten people were killed and 51 wounded in a car bombing and mortar attack in the capital's Shiite dominated slum district of Sadr City, police said on Monday, a day after 61 people were killed in apparent tit-for-tat attacks.
In the face of the continued violence, Iraq's Shiite Prime Minister Muri al-Maliki vowed to "defeat terrorists and all those who insist on opposing the political process."
The attack in Sadr City, a bastion of fighters loyal to firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, came after 42 Sunni Arabs were gunned down Sunday in a deadly rampage in a Sunni district of Baghdad blamed on Shiite militiamen.
In an apparent revenge attack soon afterwards, 19 people were killed and 59 wounded when twin car bombs went off outside a Shiite mosque in a largely Sunni district of the capital.
Baghdad has been swept by a wave of sectarian violence, much of it targeting mosques, since Sunni militants blew up a revered Shiite shrine in Samarra north of the capital in February.
Another 14 people were killed across the country on Monday, including three who were blown up by a roadside bomb in front of a restaurant near the central bank in Baghdad.
Iraqi and US troops also sealed off the capital's Sunni neighbourhood of Dura and state media announced a daytime curfew there from 2:00 pm (1000 GMT) until 8:00 am (0400 GMT).
The whole capital is already under a dusk-to-dawn curfew.
Dura residents reported hearing gunfire and said large numbers of armed men were out on the streets, a scene of repeated fighting and attacks on security forces.
"The president of the republic of Poland, Lech Kaczynski, has designated Jaroslaw Kaczynski as prime minister," the presidency said in a statement.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski now has two weeks to present his government and its agenda to parliament, which will then have a further two weeks to approve his nomination as premier and his programme for governing Poland.
The spokesmen dismissed media reports stating that the Prime Minister had ordered grounding of the F-27 fleet, following the crash of PK-688 at Multan a few minutes after take off, killing all
on board.
A Board of Inquiry to investigate the accident which claimed 45 lives, including four crew members has already been ordered on the directives of the Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.
The spokesman said no decision has been taken to ground the remaining six F-27 aircraft, currently being used by PIA.
The Civil Aviation Authority in Karachi announced the constitution of the Board of Inquiry to probe into the crash of the Fokker aircraft.
The investigation team headed by Air Commodore M Junaid Ameen have reached the crash site.
Deputy Defence Minister Zahid Hamid recently told the National Assembly that the Fokkers operated by the national flag carrier were safe for flying and were being maintained according to international standards.
Basayev was killed in a special operation overnight in Ingushetia, near Chechnya, Russia's FSB security service chief Nikolai Patrushev said.
President Vladimir Putin said Basayev's killing was "deserved retribution" for terror attacks, including the 2004 mass hostage-taking at a school in Beslan.
Basayev, a key Chechen rebel commander, was blamed for dozens of major attacks.
The September 2004 attack on a school in Beslan, in the North Caucasus, led to at least 331 deaths. It triggered outrage in Russia and other countries, as many women and children were among the victims.
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