50th (1972-2022) Anniversary of PIA Fokker F27 Gilgit to Rawalpindi Flight PK631 Crash

[Abbas Ali]

1972 - Fifty Years Ago - From the Past Pages of DAWN

PIA Fokker Missing

KARACHI: A PIA Fokker aircraft with 33 persons aboard including a crew of five is missing between Gilgit and Rawalpindi. Two helicopters and two Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport planes of Pakistan Air Force (PAF) failed to locate the aircraft till last evening [December 8, 1972] when visibility became poor.

The search will be resumed this morning. The ground search, however, is continuing. According to reports, it was raining heavily in the region which made the search more difficult. The aircraft, commanded by Capt. Javedullah, left Gilgit at 11:40 AM and was scheduled to reach Rawalpindi at 12:50 PM. It lost radio contact with Rawalpindi half way on the 250-mile route.

There is one remote possibility that the missing aircraft bearing registration markings AP-AUS might have made an emergency landing at Chilas, about 50 miles south of Gilgit, where only emergency landing facilities are available. Due to breakdown in communications, it could not contact Rawalpindi or Gilgit.

The Director General of Civil Aviation, Mr. M.A. Rafi, told `DAWN` that his department was fully assisting the authorities in the search. Of the 33 on board, two were cockpit crew, two cabin crew and one air guard, and the rest were passengers.

Source: DAWN

[Abbas Ali]

On December 8, 1972, PIA Fokker F27 Friendship (aircraft registration AP-AUS) built in year 1966 departed from Gilgit Airport at 11:40 AM for flight to Rawalpindi. The aircraft crashed into a snow covered mountain 9,000 feet high above village Maidan around 8 miles south of Jalkot.


Pakistan Army soldiers recovering dead bodies from snow covered mountain where AP-AUS crashed

Abbas

[Abbas Ali]

1972 - Fifty Years Ago - From the Past Pages of DAWN

Fokker Wreckage Found

RAWALPINDI: None of the 33 persons including five members of crew who were on board the PIA Fokker plane which crashed yesterday [December 8, 1972] on its flight from Gilgit to Rawalpindi has survived, according to PIA. A PIA spokesman said here today that after strenuous efforts by the Pakistan Army and Pakistan Air Force, the wreckage of the plane was located by a Pakistan Army aviation helicopter on a thickly forested steep mountain slope covered with snow about 9,000 feet high, above village Maidan, about eight miles south of Jalkot, situated on the Indus Valley road.

According to another report, army jawans had reached the wreckage of the crashed plane and were constructing a road to carry the bodies and the debris towards a safer place. The report said the plane had crashed in a jungle without any road near the crash site. [The source] said that a party of villagers from Maidan, who had earlier managed to reach the site, reported no survivors. President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto has learnt of the tragic accident with sorrow and has directed that his personal condolences should be conveyed to the next of kin of the victims.

Source: DAWN

[Abbas Ali]

1972 - Fifty Years Ago - From the Past Pages of DAWN

Search for more bodies of the victims of the PIA Fokker crash near Jalkot has been given up. Only seven bodies have been recovered out of the total of 33 aboard. The plane had crashed on December 8, 1972, on a flight from Gilgit to Rawalpindi. The rest of the bodies and major part of the wreckage has been completely burnt. According to PIA, only four of the seven bodies found were identified. The airline said that interim compensation to the legal heirs of the victims is being considered on priority basis.

Source: DAWN