It is with the heaviest of hearts that I need to inform you all that Haris Suleman perished in the crash of their aircraft just after takeoff from Pago Pago in American Samoa at approx 08:56utc; 22:56 local. Babar Suleman is still missing and there is a major search operation underway. There is no indication as to why the crash happened except that the crash site was about 1 mile from the end of the runway and out to sea. It was obviously very dark and the airport was uncontrolled. It is very unlikely they had reached an altitude that enabled them to contact the ATC on Samoa. The area is in the New Zealand SAR region and it was New Zealand SAR that received a distress signal from the aircraft. The timing of the signal (possibly a satellite ping) put it very close to the crash site when transmitted. Haris’s body was found soon after the arrival of the rescue boat sent from the island’s Fire and Crash service. There was an active locator beacon working but no information as to whether it was attached to Haris’s life jacket or not. There is no information as to the condition or status of the aircraft. Within 3 hours, the USCG Rescue Centre in Hawaii took over operations and has notified the next of kin. Our thoughts now are with the family and friends and we will try to honour the guy’s memory as best we can. Our condolences go to the family and friends of the brave crew and we salute Barbar and Haris as true gentlemen and exceptional aviators. R.I.P Babar and his son, Haris were on a 30 day round the world trip to raise money for Citizens Foundation. This post has been received from Eddie Gold who was possibly a part of the team supporting the flight. We (Sagodhians) met them while they stopped in Lahore.
Posted on: Wed, 23 Jul 2014 18:09:16 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015