DACCA: Twenty-three people died in the flaming wreckage of a Pakistan International Airlines helicopter which plunged into a marshy field three miles south-west of Faridpur, 45 miles west of Dacca today [Feb 2].

An eye-witness said a vulture hit the aircraft’s rotor blades, snapping one of them off and bringing the machine crashing to the ground.

There was only one survivor out of 24 people on board, including three crew; three of the victims were children and one a woman. Three Pakistani doctors also died, besides two Britons and a Canadian.

It is the first helicopter crash since the introduction of the service by PIA in East Pakistan in November 1963.

Air Marshal Asghar Khan, Chief Administrator of the Civil Aviation and President of PIA, has ordered an inquiry into the accident and he along with a Civil Aviation and PIA investigation team is leaving Karachi for Dacca by the next PIA plane (tomorrow morning).

The grim news was first broken to an Id reunion gathering in Dacca by East Pakistan’s Governor, Mr Abdul Monem Khan, this evening. A pall of gloom fell over the gay gathering.

The Sikorsky helicopter was on its second flight from Dacca to Rajshahi via Faridpur. It crashed only two minutes before it was due to land after losing radio contact with Faridpur control room.

Pieces of the wreckage were strewn across a marshy field where it fell near the village Bhanga Dhanga. The victims’ bodies were charred beyond recognition.

Published in Dawn, February 3rd, 2016