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HT This Day: May 21, 1965 -- 121 killed, 6 hurt in Pak plane crash near Cairo
The only occupants unhurt were six terrified baboons who screamed hysterically in their cages as rescuers landed by helicopter among the scattered fragments of the jetliner
Cairo: A Pakistani airliner carrying important guests on a luxury flight crashed in the desert near here today, killing 121 of its 127 passengers and crew.
The six who survived were seriously injured. The only occupants unhurt were six terrified baboons who screamed hysterically in their cages as rescuers landed by helicopter among the scattered fragments of the jetliner.
It was the biggest air disaster this year. Among those on board were 22 journalists and newspaper executives, including Abdul Khaliq Qureshi, administrator of the Associated Press of Pakistan, and Major-General Hayauddin, chairman of the Pakistan National Press Trust.
The Plane, a Boeing 720-B, ploughed into a sandhill in a heavy round fog at 5-20 a.m. (IST) as it prepared to make its final approach for landing, six miles south of Cairo airport.
Three of the six survivors, all Pakistanis, were reported in fair condition. The other three were described as critical.
The plane, which had made three earlier pre-inaugural flights was officially opening Pakistani International Airlines new Karachi to London route.
Airline officials said Pakistani stewardess, Miss Khurshid, had been planning to get married next week in Karachi.
Survivors
They identified one of the survivors as Aman Allah, police reporter of the Pakistani newspaper, Leader.
The wreckage was still burning when rescuers reached the scene five hours after the crash. The desert sands in the immediate vicinity was blackened.
Some £4,000 was recovered from the scene.
Rallal Karimi - one of the six survivors - said the plane was landing and the passengers were told to fasten their seat belts. “Then all I heard was a bang. Next thing I was on the ground,” Karimi added.
He said: “I saw my friend Sadiki. I pulled him away.” Karimi said be helped two others out of the wreckage, which was on fire. He said he saw other survivors covered in blood and staggering. ‘”We dragged ourselves away,” Karimi said and added, “It was foggy and we waved a yellow towel to aircraft passing by.
“Six of us felt cold. I was the only one who could move.”
Karimi said later a helicopter took them away.
Among the charred bodies lying on the dunes, the rescuers found a child and, next to her, the head of her doll. The explosion and the blaze had turned the sand black over a wide area.
The plane was on its inaugural flight of a new route from Karachi to London.
Shortly before it crashed the Captain, A. A. Khan, had reported he was having trouble with the wing flaps of the four-Jet Boeing 720-B airliner.
Then an eye-witness reported seeing “a ball of fire” in the sky as the plane plunged to the ground in the Wadi el Halazoni area, south-east of the airport.
It crashed in flames and careered across the sands before splitting into hundreds of fragments. Rescue workers, Egyptian policemen, soldiers and airline workers - marvelled how the six survivors managed to be thrown clear.
Experts from Pakistan International Airlines, were on their way from Karachi tonight to prob the causes of the crash.
Journalists’ list
Pakistan International Airways today issued a list of 22 Pakistani journalists aboard their inaugural flight which crashed near Cairo.
The list was: Major-General Hayauddin, chairman of the National Press Trust; Mr Amk. Qureshi, administrator of the Associated Press of Pakistan; Mr Saghiruddin, Dawn; Mr Sibt-e-Farooq Faridi, Morning News; Mr Yasun Tareen, Business Post; Mr Aleemuglah, Leader; Mr M. B. Khalid, Business Recorder; Mr Hamid Hashmi, Imroze; Mr Irfan Chughtai, Nawai-e-Waqt; Mr Jaffar Mansoor, Huriyat; Mr Shah Mumtaz, PPA; Mr S. M. Mobin, Unity, Chittagong; Mr Faridduddin Ahmed, Pakistan Observer, Dacca; Mr S. M. Hannan, Morning News, Dacca; Mr Ahmadur Rehman, Ittifaq, Dacca; Mr Akhtaruzzami, Paigham, Dacca; Mr Mohummad Huq, Dainik Pakistan, Dacca; Mr Yaqub Khan, Aero News, Karachi; Mr Mumtaz Tariq, Fiye, Karachi; Mr Nasi Mahmood, Jung; Mr T. D. D’Sylva, Pakistan Times, Mr Abu Saleh Islahi, Mashriq, Lahore.
