Islamabad

Advertisment

A disturbing incident was reported from Pakistan where a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight from Islamabad to Skardu left the body of a child at the Islamabad International Airport, while the parents continued their journey.

A report by the Dawn said on Friday (May 10) that the six-year-old boy's parents were shocked and fainted at the Skardu airport when they came to know that the PIA staff forgot to put their child's body on the aircraft.

Advertisment

The report said that the boy, a resident of Kharmang district's Katshi village, was diagnosed with a brain tumour at a hospital in Skardu and doctors referred him to Rawalpindi for treatment in April.

The chaos that unfolded

His parents took him to Rawalpindi, and the six-year-old was undergoing treatment at the Benazir Bhutto Hospital for weeks. However, the child died on Thursday. 

Advertisment

The parents then decided to transport his body to Katshi for burial. They booked a PIA flight for Friday and confirmed their tickets on flight PK-451 from Islamabad to Skardu. 

Also read | Protests erupt in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir over inflation and other economic hardships

They brought the body to the Islamabad International Airport at 6 am local time and completed the cargo procedure for the body after fulfilling SOPs and the airline’s rules and making the payment, the report added.

A relative of the child told Dawn that the body was scheduled to be transported with the parents to Skardu from Islamabad at 9 am. The relative said that the flight got delayed for four hours.

The flight took off at 1 pm and upon arrival at the Skardu airport at 2 pm, the parents were informed that mistakenly the body was not loaded on the aircraft and left behind at the Islamabad airport.

This announcement sparked outrage and the boy's relatives started protesting at the Skardu airport. The PIA staff and other airport authorities tried to calm the boy's parents and relatives and assured them they would bring back the body on Saturday.

The PIA staff said that the company which handles cargo at the airport was responsible for this blunder. The airline assured the family that action would be taken against that company.

'Flight was delayed to accommodate minister'

Another relative of the boy told the publication that a federal minister was scheduled to fly to Gilgit from Islamabad on Friday, adding that the PIA flight from Islamabad to Gilgit couldn’t operate due to bad weather.

The relative said that the minister changed his plan and decided to go to Skardu and kept the passengers waiting. The relative added that flight PK-451 was delayed till 1 pm to accommodate the minister. 

(With inputs from agencies)