Karachi, Mar 09: Pakistani authorities found a body today believed to be one of the three missing since a plane carrying an Afghan minister and seven others plunged into the Arabian Sea late last month. "We have found a body and we suspect it may be one the crash victims," said senior police officer Muneer Baluch.
He said the body was headless and in bad shape. Mohammad Saqib, Deputy Counsel General of the Afghan Consulate in Karachi, suggested the deceased was an Afghan engineer who was travelling with Afghan Mines and Industry Minister Juma Mohammad Mohammadi when their privately chartered Cessna 402-B light aircraft crashed on February 24.
"We are not sure but we are suspecting it is the body of engineer Rehmat Khan Popal, who was a member of the Afghan delegation," Saqib said. Mohammadi, four other Afghan officials, a Chinese mining executive and two Pakistani crew died when the Cessna crashed shortly after taking off from the southern port city of Karachi.
Five bodies, including those of three afghan officials and the two Pakistani crew, were recovered within hours of the crash. The bodies of Mohammadi, Chinese mining executive Sun Chang Sheng and one Afghan official have not yet been found, despite intensive searching by the Pakistan Navy.
Bureau Report