A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) spokesman has denied media reports that the propeller of one of the engines of the ATR-42 aircraft that crashed on December 7 had started spinning in reverse or had some known defect prior to take off, which led to the accident.
“These reports are mere speculations which may mislead the public into drawing wrong conclusions. Fact of the matter is that both engines of the aircraft were fully operational at the time of takeoff from Chitral and some problem developed during flight,” the spokesman said.
“The whole incident is being thoroughly investigated by Safety Investigation Board (SIB), which is an independent body working under the Aviation Division,” the spokesman said.
He said that all items recovered from the site, including cockpit instruments, were part of the evidence and might give valuable insights about the cause of the accident, but could not provide conclusive evidence in isolation.
“Public should rest assured that SIB is under instructions from the prime minister that a detailed, independent and transparent inquiry be carried out and truth should be brought out and shared with the people in the shortest possible time,” he said.
“Therefore, the media is requested to wait till the investigation has been completed and refrain from drawing any premature conclusions,” he said.
“The ATR 42 and 72 (more than 1,200 aircraft built) use engines manufactured by one of world’s most reliable engine manufacturers, Pratt and Whitney, which has provided more than 13,000 commercial engines to a range of aircraft manufacturers including Boeing and Airbus since 1925, in addition to providing more than 7300 engines for multiple military aircraft,” he said.
DNA tests
Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad (PIMS) administrator Dr Altaf said on Sunday that DNA testing of victims of the PIA plane crash would be completed by end of the next week.
“The process of DNA test takes six to seven days. After this process, the dead bodies will be handed over to heirs,” he said while talking to reporters in Islamabad on Sunday. Dr Altaf said that nine bodies of the Havelian plane crash victims had been identified.
“Various technologies including DNA tests, biometrics and dental history are being used for the identification of the dead bodies,” he said.
He said with the help of the biometric system, two bodies had been identified. He said that the DNA samples of all the Pakistani victims and one foreigner had been collected while samples of two foreigners were still awaited.
