ISLAMABAD, Oct 25: The bodies of three journalists of Japan Broadcasting Corporation (HK), who had died in Gilgit in a road accident on Thursday, were brought to the capital through a PIA flight on Friday at about 5pm.

The NHK bureau chief, Mr Futuri, and some of the Japanese embassy officials received the bodies at the Islamabad airport and later shifted them to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences.

The bodies would be kept there for two days and later sent to Tokyo on Sunday through PIA flight, PK-851, at 10pm.

The victims were Shojun Hata, 55; Kiyoshi Honda, 35; and Takeuchi Taro, 28. Mr Hata was a producer, and Mr Honda and Mr Taro were cameraman and sound recorder, respectively. A local driver, Ali Jamhoor from Shishkat Village, is also among the dead.

They were returning to Islamabad after preparing a documentary on Hunza Valley.

It is learnt that the families of the Japanese journalists are arriving here on Saturday (today), and will be handed over the bodies.

Our Correspondent from Gilgit adds: The postmortem of the three journalists was carried out at the District headquarters Hospital, Chilas, sources said.

NISAR CONDOLES: Information minister Nisar A. Memon on Friday expressed grief and sorrow over the death of three Japanese TV journalists.

He offered his condolences to the bereaved families and paid rich tributes to the professionalism, devotion to duty and commitment of these journalists.

Meanwhile, the secretary-general of Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, Fauzia Shahid, senior vice-president C. R. Shamsi, RIUJ president Pervez Shaukat and the central secretary information of National Alliance, Syed Mahmood Hashmi, have also expressed grief and sorrow over the death of the Japanese journalists.

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