TRAVEL BAN ON BHOJA AIR BOSS AS PROBE ON CRASH KILLING 127 BEGINS

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan barred the head of the private airline whose jet crashed near Islamabad from leaving the country yesterday as it began a probe into the disaster that sparked anger among distraught relatives.
Farooq Bhoja's name was put on the Interior Ministry's "exit control list," following an investigation ordered by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. "The owner of the airline has been put on the exit control list and he will not be allowed to leave the country without the permission of the government," said Interior Minister Rahman Malek.

• The Bhoja Air flight from Karachi came down in fields near a village on the outskirts of the capital on Friday evening, killing all 127 people on board, in the country's second major fatal air crash in less than two years.
• A judicial commission will be set up to probe the passenger plane crash, Gilani said Saturday.
• Gilani made the announcement while talking to reporters at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS).
• Head of the Investigation Team Group Captain (Retd) Mujahidul Islam said that according to preliminary reports‚ the ill-fated Bhoja Air plane had caught fire before it crashed.
• Speaking separately to media representatives, Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) director general Nadeem Yousufzai said the black box had been sent to concerned authorities and its examination might take a month.
• He added that an Airblue flight landed at Islamabad airport around five minutes after the crash and it was "right behind the Bhoja plane". The visibility was also 4km, the CAA chief said.

The Bhoja Air plane was nearly three decades old, officials said, but had been approved to fly by aviation authorities.
A Bhoja Air official insisted that despite its age, the plane was safe to fly.
According to Bhoja Air official Masham Zafar, the aircraft was old and second-hand but it is not something unusual. The fleet of state-run Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) also runs old aircraft.

Source: AFP.