KARACHI, Aug 7: The remains of American journalist Daniel Pearl were flown to the United States from Karachi in the wee hours of Thursday.

The coffin was booked on Cathay Pacific CX-700, which left for Hong Kong at 1.19am. “It goes to Hong Kong from where the coffin will be shifted to another flight for its onward journey,” an airport official said.

The source declined to divulge which flight the coffin would be flown from Hong Kong. A US consulate official, when contacted, said: “I am not in a position to share this information with the press”.

Earlier, two consulate officials — Michael and Zahooruddin Bashir — came to the Edhi Home near Sohrab Goth to receive the coffin.

The Edhi volunteers shifted the yellow wooden coffin from the morgue to the ambulance (EA-1424), which left for the airport under police escort around 5:30pm. A bouquet of red flowers was placed on the coffin on behalf of the Edhi Foundation’s founder, Abdul Sattar Edhi, with a note which read: “for the peace of the soul of Daniel Pearl”.