Pop singer turned religious leader Junaid Jamshed and wife have been killed in PIA PK-661 plane crash near Abbottabad in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Close friends of Junaid Jamshed saying he along with his wife was also traveling on PIA plane crashed coming from Chitral to Islamabad
— Hamid Mir (@HamidMirGEO) December 7, 2016
Brother of Junaid Jamshed has confirmed the reports of Junaid traveling in the ill-fated plane.
Jamshed was travelling to Islamabad on the ill-fated PIA plane from Chitral where he had gone on a preaching tour.
Much of the anguish focused on Junaid Jamshed, the vocalist of Vital Signs, one of Pakistan’s first and most successful rock and pop bands of the 1990s, who abandoned his musical career in 2001 to become a travelling evangelist with the Tableeghi Jamaat group.
“Junaid Jamshed’s journey was so quintessentially Pakistani. Conflicted, passionate, devoted, uber smart, and so, so talented. Tragic loss,” Mosharraf Zaidi, an Islamabad-based development professional and analyst, said in a tweet.
Others simply shared his band’s many chart-topping hits, such as ‘Dil Dil Pakistan’, which has become an unofficial anthem, played at public gatherings since its release in 1987.
At least 48 passengers have been feared dead as a Pakistan International Airlines plane flying from Chitral has reportedly crashed on its flight to Islamabad.
Flight PK-661 with 48 passengers went missing near Abbottabad while it was on its way to Islamabad.
The flight departed from Chitral around 3:30pm and was expected to land at Islamabad’s Benazir Bhutto International Airport at around 4:40pm.
A PIA spokesperson told media that flight PK-661 had disappeared from the air control radar.
According to military’s media wing ISPR, army troops and helicopters have been dispatched to the crash site for rescue efforts.
“We regret to inform that PIA’s ATR-42 aircraft operating as PK-661, carrying around 40 persons lost its contact with control tower on its way from Chitral to Islamabad a short while ago. All resources are being mobilised to locate the aircraft. Media will be kept informed as situation develops,” PIA spokesperson Danial Gilani said in a statement.
“PIA’s emergency response center has been activated and can be accessed at following phone numbers for updates: 0092-21-99044890, 0092-21-99044376 and 0092-21-99044394,” he added.
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