It has been not even a week since the ill-fated Pakistan International Airlines (PIA)aircraft crashed in Karachi, killing 97 of the 99 people on board.
The families of the deceased are still trying to make sense of their loss but their suffering has been exacerbated by the unprofessional and insensitive conduct of the airlines.
A Twitter user, Adil Rahmaan, who lost both his parents, Fazal and Walida Rahmaan, shared how PIA officials were harassing the grieving kin of the deceased, constantly calling them up and asking inconsiderate questions.
“I lost both my parents in this tragic and horrific crash. I submit to Allah’s will. However, the ordeal we are suffering at the hands of PIA is inexcusable. Callous, insensitive and incompetent,” Adil Rahman wrote on Twitter.
I lost both my parents in this tragic & horrific crash. I submit to Allah’s will. However the ordeal we are suffering at the hands of #PIA is inexcusable. Callous, Insensitive, incompetent…. #PIAPlaneCrash
— Adil Rahman (@Arnahstl) May 26, 2020
He claimed that he has been receiving multiple calls from PIA representatives asking crude questions like, “Aap ko bodies mil gyi hain? (have you received the bodies?)”
Adil Rahman, who lives in the US, added that his family has been receiving calls from the airlines as late as 2.30 am. Different employees from PIA call them to ask them the same questions again and again after every shift change, he claimed.
His brother shared the same ordeal with Pakistan news channel Samaa.
Thank you to the twitterverse for the ground swell that has focused attention on the mishandling of this tragedy. My brother articulates it well in this TV interview https://t.co/2I4OTgESaq #PIAPlaneCrash @Official_PIA @BBCNewsAsia @AlJazeera @CNN @NBCNews @SAMAATV
— Adil Rahman (@Arnahstl) May 26, 2020
“They keep losing the paper list of names during shift change and told us they are now going to move everything to an excel spreadsheet. For the love of God? Who is in charge? Who is responsible for this debacle?” he added.
Tagging Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, Adil Rahman pleaded, “@Official_PIA have some consideration for our pain and suffering. Infighting between Lahore and Karachi forensic teams has already delayed the victim identification process. Bodies are getting stolen. Have mercy on my deceased parents. do you have no soul or fear Allah?! @ImranKhanPTI”
@Official_PIA have some consideration for our pain and suffering. Infighting between LHE & KHI forensic teams has already delayed the victim identification process. Bodies are getting stolen. Have mercy on my deceased parents. do you have no soul or fear Allah?! @ImranKhanPTI
— Adil Rahman (@Arnahstl) May 26, 2020
His claims come as reports have emerged that at least 19 bodies of the 97 PIA plane crash victims have been forcibly taken by their relatives from a hospital mortuary in Karachi, leading to a further delay in the identification process.
People identify bodies of the crash victims at a morgue in Karachi. (Photo: AP)
According to the Pakistan health ministry, 41 bodies have been identified and handed over to families till now.
NO EID IN OUR HOME: CHILDREN LEFT WITH GRIEF
As Fazal Rahmaan, 80, and his wife, Wahida Rahmaan, 74, boarded a plane in the Pakistani city of Lahore on May 22, their family’s biggest fear was that they might catch the coronavirus on their way to spend the holiday in Karachi.
Instead the couple, who had been married for 54 years, were among the 97 people killed when an Airbus A320, operated by Pakistan International Airlines, crashed into a Karachi neighbourhood – Pakistan’s worst air disaster since 2012.
Flight PK-8303 from Lahore crashed at the Jinnah Garden area near Model Colony in Malir on Friday afternoon, minutes before its landing in Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport. Eleven people on the ground were injured.
Fazal Rahmaan, 80, and his wife Wahida Rahmaan, 74, are seen in this undated photograph provided to Reuters, Pakistan.
“We held many calls deliberating with doctors and family … Our biggest concern was that they made the trip safely,” said their son, Inam Ur Rahmaan, who instead of welcoming his parents for the Eid al-Fitr holiday found himself picking through the wreckage of flight PK8303 praying for a miracle.
“I got in my car and followed the smoke and the ambulances,” Rahmaan told Reuters.
“When I saw the area, I realised that it would be a miracle if they had made it.”
Inam Ur Rahmaan Rahmaan said his family was still in shock.
“There’s no Eid in our home,” he said.
He said took some comfort from knowing his parents always wanted to be with each other.
“Whatever’s happened, whatever the reason behind it, they always wanted to be together. In the end, they were together.”
