Both, the torrential rain and heavily forested hills made the rescue efforts very difficult. The rescuers made it possible by a 1500 feet vertical climb through the dense brush and slippery boulders.
The familiarity with the trails of the Margalla hills and ground support from Mr. Khalid Shoaib a Geophysicist helped Pakistan Relief’s Emergency Response Team to locate and reach at the scene of disaster within an hour. Each of the ERT members successfully transported a rucksack full of High Angle / Mountain Rescue equipment and medical supplies, weighing 12 to 25 Kilograms.
Soon after arriving at the crash site we observed that almost all the bodies of the passengers were badly mutilated and charred due to the fire which had erupted right after the collision. The monsoon drizzling helped extinguishing the fire but the smoke resulted into poor visibility and suffocation. Body parts of the passengers were found scattered over a radius of about 400 meters.
The First Aid material found to be useless because there were no survivors. There was need of polythene bags and pieces pf cloth to wrap the dead bodies so we transmitted a message through radio to our head office for assistance. Another team took the required stuff and delivered it to the hilltop.
The crash left twisted pieces of metal wreckage hanging from trees and scattered over the inaccessible hilly area. The CDA, 1122, Pakistan Red Crescent staff together with a number of local volunteers kept on collecting pieces of bodies till sunset. Clouds of dense grey smoke billowed from the burning wreckage as a small Army Lama helicopter hovered above. According to experts, this is the worst plane crash ever on Pakistani territory. Military troops as well as Air Force and Navy commandos were also called in to aid the local police and rescuers. Three helicopters of the Army Aviation took part in the rescue operation. A state of emergency was declared in all hospitals of the federal capital and Rawalpindi by the administration to tackle the situation.
Reportedly, the disaster occurred when the plane lost height unexpectedly and collided with the mountain peak, an expert opined. The plane had descended considerably to land at the Islamabad airport, which was some 20 kilometers from the crash scene. Islamabad had received heavy downpour hours before the crash at 9:45 am. Airbus A321 of Air Blue’s flight ED202 took off from Karachi Airport at 7:42 am. The flight reached in time at 9:30 am and the pilot approached the control tower of the Benazir Bhutto International Airport seeking direction for landing, the sources said, adding that due to rough weather, the control tower asked the pilot to make the landing approach from the north side. The pilot followed the instructions and turned in the direction of Margalla hills but suddenly lost contact with the control tower and minutes later it crashed on the hill side. Some residents of Islamabad have witnessed the plane flying on very low altitude near Blue Area and E7 sector prior to disappearing in clouds and crashing.
The relatives of passengers and crewmembers kept crying over the tragedy. Numerous men and women are still waiting at the government hospitals in Islamabad to receive the dead bodies of their relatives and friends. The health officials said they would have to use DNA tests to identify charred bodies plucked from the wreckage of the airliner.
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