Islamabad - Health Department of the city (ICT) has requested the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) to conduct autopsy of the air crew of crashed flight PK-66, sources said on Monday.
The request had been made to find out the chances of intoxication of any prohibited drugs given to crew member of the doomed aircraft.
As per information available to The Nation, PIMS administration has been requested for the grave exhumation and autopsy of dead bodies of the crew members. The letter issued by District Health Officer (DHO) ICT dated December 23 of last year states that medical official of Benazir Bhutto International Airport (BBIAP) had written to Deputy Commissioner Office (DCO) for the autopsy of crew members. “The request was made to district administration to meet the inquiry requirements for the investigation board for crashed flight,” source said.
“It has been requested for conducting autopsy of the air crew of flight PK-661 be carried out to ascertain intoxication of any illicit drug as per inquiry requirements for the investigation board for crashed flight PK-661,” as per stated in the copy of letter with The Nation available.
The letter further directed the PIMS administration to follow the legal procedure for grave exhumation.
“You are requested to carry out autopsy of the dead bodies of the crew members to ascertain any intoxication,” said the letter.
PIA PK-661 en-route to Islamabad from Chital crashed in the hills of Havelian on December 8 last year. Total 48 people including five crew members were boarding on flight.
Names of crew members in crashed flight included Captain Saleh Janujua, first officer Ali Akram, trainee pilot Ahmed Janjua and air hostesses Sadaf Farooq and Asma Adil.
Because of the tragic incident mostly bodies of the passengers were not identified by normal process and PIMS administration had to take DNA samples of the passengers including crew members for identification before handing them over to relatives of the victims.
Earlier, the investigations being carried by Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) had revealed that the ill-fated flight was fit to fly.
It was reported after unlocking black box of the plane that both engines were functional and the plane did not try to land. The information from black box had not determined the major reason behind flight crash.
Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner (DC) of the city in a statement said that investigations could also be extended without grave exhumation of anyone.
“PIMS has the samples of dead bodies and forensic test of any dead body is possible with available samples,” he said.
“DNA samples are available so grave exhumation is not necessary,” said DC.
Meanwhile, CADD officials and PIMS administration avoided to comment on the issue.
Top official of CADD told The Nation that he is unaware regarding any such letter issued by the ministry to PIMS hospital. PIMS administrator Dr Altaf Hussain while talking to The Nation said that hospital administration didn’t receive any letter from CADD but it was written by District Health Officer. He said the health department had written for the post-mortem of the dead bodies, as it was the requirement of inquiry as per international standards of civil aviation. “PIMS informed ICT that samples are available with the hospital and chemical examination is possible without grave exhumation,” he said.
However, a forensic expert informed The Nation that it will be difficult to determine the intoxication with the available samples at PIMS.
“The available DNA samples at hospital will not help in determining the intoxication,” he said.
Vice Chancellor (VC) Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University (SZABMU) Dr Javed Akram stated that “We didn’t receive any such orders and not linked with any letter,” he said.