12 die as mercy flight freighter crashes just after take off in Karachi

28.11.2010 (IFW)

by Mike King

Aircraft carrying relief aid turned into a fireball and exploded


12 die as mercy flight freighter crashes in Pakistan (VIDEO)

A Russia-built freighter crashed in Karachi in the early hours of yesterday morning
killing at least 12 people.  

The Ilyushin Il-76 (similar to the one pictured above)  was understood to be carrying
31 tonnes of relief aid to Khartoum in Sudan.  

The plane came down minutes after take-off from Karachi’s Jinnah International
Airport. It crashed into a residential construction site, killing all eight crew
and at least four people on the ground.  

"It took off from Karachi at 1.45am [local time] and, as it took off it caught
fire and immediately crashed," said Pervaiz George, a spokesman for Pakistan’s
Civil Aviation Authority.

He said the pilot had not communicated with the airport’s control tower prior
to the crash.  

Local reports said the plane "turned into a fireball in the sky" and then exploded
on impact with the ground, setting ablaze and destroying several buildings.  

"I saw one of its wings was burning and there was a blast and fire engulfed the
aircraft very quickly," said local resident Riaz Ahmed.  

Seven of the freighter’s crew were Ukrainians and one was a Russian.  

Reports suggest the operator of the plane was Sun Way Airlines, but as IFW went to press, it was unclear where the company was based.

Pakistan has been the scene of a number of air tragedies this year. A passenger
aircraft chartered to an international oil company crashed this month in Karachi,
killing all 21 people onboard.

In July, 152 people were killed on an airliner that crashed in the mountains
near the capital city of Islamabad.

link to article

 

 

see also

 

Russian cargo plane crashes in Pakistan, 10 killed, 7 injured

28th, November 2010         (Sudanjem)  

Islamabad       At least ten people were killed and seven were injured when a Sudan-bound
cargo plane crashed Sunday morning in Southern Karachi port city of Pakistan,
said officials.

The Russian-made Ilyushin IL-76 aircraft, en route to Sudanese capital Khartoum,
crashed at 1:45 am local time into a residential compound in Gulshan-e-Jamal area
of the city, only ninety seconds after it had taken off from the Quad-i-Azam airport,
said Pervez George, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) spokesman.

 Spokesman George said that all eight Russian crew members were killed in the
accident and about seven people on ground sustained injuries. Later, the rescuers
pulled out two more dead bodies, bringing the death toll to ten.

The plane came from UAE and was loaded with thirty tones of air freight. The
cause of the crash was not immediately available.

A huge blaze set off after the crash and it engulfed to nearby two under-construction
buildings, where residential apartments and offices for Navy and Air Force were
being built. Commodore Khalid of Pakistan Navy said that the fire was extinguished
after about an hour.

Local news channels showed burnt debris of plane scattered over an area of one
kilometer and rescuers were using huge cranes to find any survivors or buried
people. They said that several of the bodies pulled out were mutilated beyond
recognition.

This was the second crash in less than a month in Karachi. Earlier, on November
5th, an aircraft of an Italian oil company crashed only minutes after it took-off
near the airport. All 21 people on board were killed.

 

 

 

 Air Freighter accidents

Unfortunately, being older aircraft and with less attention to safety in some
countries, there are far more accidents to frieght aircraft that to passenger
aircraft.    
More …..