Scared passengers were boarded off and taken to the arrival lounge of the Jinnah International Airport.
Director General (DG) Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Nadeem Yousafzai taking notice of the incident has directed the authorities for investigations.
“The inauguration of Frankfurt’s new runway had a very positive effect on traffic development,” said chief executive Stefan Schulte.
The 2.8-kilometre (1.7-mile) landings-only strip, which has taken 14 years to build at a cost of 600 million euros ($768 million), was inaugurated in October amid protests by conservationists and local residents and a bitter row over night flights.
Nevertheless, Frankurt looks unlikely to leap-frog Paris’ Charles de Gaulle (CDG) airport to become Europe’s second busiest airport just yet.
Full-year figures for Paris-CDG have not yet been released, but in the 11 months to November, 56.255 million passengers took off and landed there.
London’s Heathrow remains Europe’s busiest airport and saw passenger numbers rise by 5.5 percent to 69.39 million last year.
A recently released video shows how passengers leapt into the sea and fought over lifejackets in panic when an Italian cruise ship ran aground and keeled over, killing at least three and leaving dozens missing.
In the chaotic aftermath of the Friday evening accident near the island of Giglio off the coast of Tuscany, Italian officials could still not say how many of the 4,229 passengers and crew on board the 114,500-tonne Costa Concordia were missing.
"I was sure I was going to die. We were in the lifeboats for two hours, crying and holding on to each other," said Antonietta Sintolli, 65, breaking down in tears as she recounted the event.
"People were trying to steal lifejackets from each other. We could only gets ones for children."
An official involved in the rescue operation said two French tourists and a Peruvian crew member were dead. Around 70 people were injured, at least two seriously.
Authorities opened a criminal investigation for possible manslaughter and Italian news agencies reported that the ship's commander, Francesco Schettino had been detained by police.
The vessel's operator, Costa Crociere, a unit of Carnival Corp & Plc, the world's largest cruise operator, said it had been sailing on its regular course when it struck a submerged rock. In a television interview, the ship's commander said the rock was not marked on any maritime charts of the area.
However it remained unclear how the 290 metre-long ship had been able to run aground in calm waters so close to the shore.
"We'll be able to say at the end of the investigation. It would be premature to speculate on this," said coastguard spokesman Filippo Marini.
The vessel was left capsized on its side in water 15-20 meters deep, with decks partly submerged, not far from the shore. A large gash was visible on its side.
CONFUSION
Officials said the search would continue overnight although darkness and the cold seas would make the work difficult.
Different officials gave varying estimates of the number of missing, with some talking of as many as 70 but there remained considerable uncertainty over how many were really missing and how many had simply not been counted in the confusion.
"We are not sure of the numbers, we cannot exclude that some people are missing, in fact it is very probable," said Ennio Aquilini, head of the fire service rescue operation.
"It could be 10, 20 up to 40 but I cannot give anything more precise. There is a possibility that no one is missing."
Passengers had just sat down to dinner, a few hours after leaving the port of Civitavecchia near Rome on a week-long cruise to Barcelona and Majorca, when a loud bang interrupted the piano player and the ship began to list.
"We heard a loud rumble, the glasses and plates fell from the tables, the ship tilted and the light went off," said passenger Luciano Castro.
"What followed was scenes of panic; people screaming, running around the place, close to us a five-month pregnant young woman was crying and panicking."
The ship, a vast floating resort with spas, theatres, swimming pools, a casino and discotheque, was carrying mainly Italian passengers, but also many foreigners including British, Germans, French, Spanish and Americans. Many were elderly; some were in wheelchairs.
Passengers crowded into lifeboats, but the mainly Asian staff, few of them able to speak Italian, struggled to bring order to the evacuation.
"It was complete panic. People were behaving like animals. We had to wait too long in the lifeboats," said 47-year-old Patrizia Perilli.
"We thought we wouldn't make it. I saw the lighthouse but I knew I couldn't swim that far but lots of people threw themselves into the sea. I think they are some of the dead."
Angel Holgado, 50, a guitarist who had been performing when the ship foundered, said he got into a lifeboat but decided to abandon it after it became dangerously overcrowded.
"There was terrible panic and fear and I jumped into the water and swam to the shore," he said.
SUBMERGED ROCK
Officials said rescue efforts were continuing on Saturday after a night-time operation involving helicopters, ships and lifeboats. The picturesque harbour of Porto Santo Stefano was lined with ambulances and green tents for the victims.
"We have about 40 men at work and we're expecting specialist diving teams to arrive to check all the interior spaces of the ship," said fire services spokesman Luca Cari.
"We don't rule out the possibility that more people will be lost," he said.
Officials said however there was confusion over the numbers of missing and on identifying all the passengers transferred from Giglio to Porto Santo Stefano on the mainland.
"To have a more precise idea we are still waiting for a full list of the people identified in Porto Santo Stefano to make a comparison with the passenger list," said Giuseppe Linardi, police chief in the nearby town of Grosseto.
Passengers were heavily critical of the response by the crew and said they had been left with no information.
"After approximately 20 minutes a voice told us there was a problem with the electricity that they were trying to fix," said Luciano Castro.
"The ship continued to tilt further, after 15 minutes they said again it was a problem with the electricity, but no one believed it," he said adding that once the evacuation began, the increasing tilt of the ship made the operation more difficult.
"Of course panic makes things worse and the crew members struggled in calming down the most active and worried passengers," he said.
The ship was built in 2004-2005 at a cost of 450 million euros at the Fincantieri Sestri shipyard in Italy.
In the chaotic aftermath of the Friday evening accident near the island of Giglio off the coast of Tuscany, Italian officials could still not say how many of the 4,229 passengers and crew on board the 114,500-tonne Costa Concordia were missing.
"I was sure I was going to die. We were in the lifeboats for two hours, crying and holding on to each other," said Antonietta Sintolli, 65, breaking down in tears as she recounted the event.
"People were trying to steal lifejackets from each other. We could only gets ones for children."
An official involved in the rescue operation said two French tourists and a Peruvian crew member were dead. Around 70 people were injured, at least two seriously.
Authorities opened a criminal investigation for possible manslaughter and Italian news agencies reported that the ship's commander, Francesco Schettino had been detained by police.
The vessel's operator, Costa Crociere, a unit of Carnival Corp & Plc, the world's largest cruise operator, said it had been sailing on its regular course when it struck a submerged rock. In a television interview, the ship's commander said the rock was not marked on any maritime charts of the area.
However it remained unclear how the 290 metre-long ship had been able to run aground in calm waters so close to the shore.
"We'll be able to say at the end of the investigation. It would be premature to speculate on this," said coastguard spokesman Filippo Marini.
The vessel was left capsized on its side in water 15-20 meters deep, with decks partly submerged, not far from the shore. A large gash was visible on its side.
CONFUSION
Officials said the search would continue overnight although darkness and the cold seas would make the work difficult.
Different officials gave varying estimates of the number of missing, with some talking of as many as 70 but there remained considerable uncertainty over how many were really missing and how many had simply not been counted in the confusion.
"We are not sure of the numbers, we cannot exclude that some people are missing, in fact it is very probable," said Ennio Aquilini, head of the fire service rescue operation.
"It could be 10, 20 up to 40 but I cannot give anything more precise. There is a possibility that no one is missing."
Passengers had just sat down to dinner, a few hours after leaving the port of Civitavecchia near Rome on a week-long cruise to Barcelona and Majorca, when a loud bang interrupted the piano player and the ship began to list.
"We heard a loud rumble, the glasses and plates fell from the tables, the ship tilted and the light went off," said passenger Luciano Castro.
"What followed was scenes of panic; people screaming, running around the place, close to us a five-month pregnant young woman was crying and panicking."
The ship, a vast floating resort with spas, theatres, swimming pools, a casino and discotheque, was carrying mainly Italian passengers, but also many foreigners including British, Germans, French, Spanish and Americans. Many were elderly; some were in wheelchairs.
Passengers crowded into lifeboats, but the mainly Asian staff, few of them able to speak Italian, struggled to bring order to the evacuation.
"It was complete panic. People were behaving like animals. We had to wait too long in the lifeboats," said 47-year-old Patrizia Perilli.
"We thought we wouldn't make it. I saw the lighthouse but I knew I couldn't swim that far but lots of people threw themselves into the sea. I think they are some of the dead."
Angel Holgado, 50, a guitarist who had been performing when the ship foundered, said he got into a lifeboat but decided to abandon it after it became dangerously overcrowded.
"There was terrible panic and fear and I jumped into the water and swam to the shore," he said.
SUBMERGED ROCK
Officials said rescue efforts were continuing on Saturday after a night-time operation involving helicopters, ships and lifeboats. The picturesque harbour of Porto Santo Stefano was lined with ambulances and green tents for the victims.
"We have about 40 men at work and we're expecting specialist diving teams to arrive to check all the interior spaces of the ship," said fire services spokesman Luca Cari.
"We don't rule out the possibility that more people will be lost," he said.
Officials said however there was confusion over the numbers of missing and on identifying all the passengers transferred from Giglio to Porto Santo Stefano on the mainland.
"To have a more precise idea we are still waiting for a full list of the people identified in Porto Santo Stefano to make a comparison with the passenger list," said Giuseppe Linardi, police chief in the nearby town of Grosseto.
Passengers were heavily critical of the response by the crew and said they had been left with no information.
"After approximately 20 minutes a voice told us there was a problem with the electricity that they were trying to fix," said Luciano Castro.
"The ship continued to tilt further, after 15 minutes they said again it was a problem with the electricity, but no one believed it," he said adding that once the evacuation began, the increasing tilt of the ship made the operation more difficult.
"Of course panic makes things worse and the crew members struggled in calming down the most active and worried passengers," he said.
The ship was built in 2004-2005 at a cost of 450 million euros at the Fincantieri Sestri shipyard in Italy.
In a written statement, the Minister stated on Monday that the reasons like bad weather, poor load, poor load adjustments, bird hits and maintenance requirements were the reasons for this daily loss of Rs 70 million during the last couple of months.
Responding to another question during the Question Hour in the Lower House, Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Moula Bakhsh Chandio said that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has no plan in hand to form new constituencies, however, minor changes in some of the already existing constituencies were in process.
He informed that ECP has constituted a committee for re-description of the existing constituencies of the National and Provincial Assemblies. He told that the said committee would submit its report in a month. To a supplementary question regarding new voting lists, the Law minister said that the new voters lists were expected to be finalized in March next year.
To a question, Minister for Science and Technology Mir Changez Khan Jamali told the house that a water disinfection tablet with trademark of "Mahfooz Pani" has been developed having capability of disinfecting 20 litres of drinking water with one tablet. A packing of 30 tablets would cost of Rs 75. He informed that the efficacy of the tablet has been tested by relevant organizations. He said Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research has invented 253 technologies and process in various industrial disciplines out of which 135 have been commercialized while 118 are under process for the purpose.
To another question regarding loss to the Ministry for Petroleum and Natural Resources, the concerned federal minister said that during the last three years, the ministry suffered a loss of Rs 147 million due to incidents of sabotage and terrorism in the country. He informed the House that 7 power producing companies owe Rs 29,465 million to PSO as of December 13, 2011.
Meanwhile, MNA Hanif Abbasi of PML-N raised the issue of low gas pressure in Rawalpindi. However, Minister for Religious Affairs Syed Khurshid Shah said that he would talk to the concerned authorities to improve the gas pressure. Later, Parliamentary Secretary for Petroleum and Natural Resources Tariq Khattak informed the House that Pakistan and Turkmanistan have finalized the terms and conditions for gas supply and purchase agreement that was expected to be signed this month. He told that the preparatory work on Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline project has been completed and the actual work would begin on Pakistani side for laying of the pipeline after completion of the tendering process.
To a question, he said tha the Iranian gas would be inducted into the system of the Sui Southern Gas Pipeline Limited at Nawabshah where it would be utilized for power generation. To another question, he said the price of CNG has been increased six times since January 2008.
Price of petrol and kerosene increased by 21 times each and that of diesel by 24 times during this period on account of increase in international prices, he added.
According to the media reports, PIA set an example of mismanagement during Hajj operations, with 42 flights being cancelled in just the last two days.
The justifications offered for flight cancellation range from battery problem to maintenance work.
According to officials, the planes have been grounded due to unknown ‘technical reasons’, bringing the number of abandoned planes to 18, whereas just 21 aircrafts have remained for local and international operations.
Four Boeing 747s, two Boeing 777, two Boeing 737s, six Airbus A310 and four ATR are included in the list of grounded planes.
On Wednesday, a Riyadh-bound flight from Lahore was just cancelled only because a 9-volt battery used to operate one of its emergency gates was found out of order, provoking the passengers who vent their anger on the airport administration.
The authority has asked all the vehicle owners, for their own safety and interest, to use only the approved brands, imported, seamless brand new CNG cylinders manufactured as per NZS 5454-1989 standard and satisfy themselves about their genuineness and fitness before purchasing/installing it from the authorized and licensed CNG stations.
The LPG, oxygen, nitrogen, acetylene cylinders are not meant for CNG use so that never use these cylinders as they cannot withstand CNG pressure of 200 bars and therefore will explode causing loss of life and property.
The authority has also advised the owners not to install CNG kit and cylinder in the vehicle from any un-authorized roadside conversion workshop or outlet.
“Never install a cylinder which has been fabricated by joining two halves by means of male and female threads or welded as only seamless vehicle cylinders are used for CNG,” warned an official of the authority.
The owners have also been asked not to install a used cylinder that has been burnt/damaged during riots or other terrorist activities.
The authority further advised to get CNG cylinder test certificate from the CNG licensee after conversion of vehicle to CNG and also get vehicle’s CNG system inspected at least once in a year for examination of the cylinder.
Talking to the reporters, Railways General Manager Saeed Akhtar said that four more trains would be handed over to a private firm next year.
He said the bidding rules have been amended for purchase of 150 locomotives. Only those companies whose engines last long would be able to take part in the bidding, he added.
It is vital to mention here that the workers and employees of Pakistan Railways are staging demonstrations against the privatisation of the department.
Talking to the reporters, Railways General Manager Saeed Akhtar said that four more trains would be handed over to a private firm next year.
He said the bidding rules have been amended for purchase of 150 locomotives. Only those companies whose engines last long would be able to take part in the bidding, he added.
It is vital to mention here that the workers and employees of Pakistan Railways are staging demonstrations against the privatisation of the department.
At the time of filing of this news the parliamentarians and ministers were waiting at Jeddah airport for getting on board the flight.
Talking to Express News, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) MNA Khwaja Sohail Mansoor expressing his strong reaction termed the PIA's service as extremely poor. "This situation calls for the MD PIA to tender his resignation," he said.
He said if this was the situation with the members of the parliament and minister then one could imagine how the airliner must be treating the common Pakistanis.
The first Hajj return flight from Jeddah touched down at the Islamabad airport after a delay of three long hours. Pilgrims told Express News 24/7 that ill-arranged transportation on 'Moalims' part delayed the flight.
Similarly another Peshawar-bound Hajj flight has also reached its destination five and a half hours later than originally scheduled. The cause of delay was none other than unavailability of a PIA plane that was to fly pilgrims back home, Express News 24/7 learnt.
The story of PIA flight that landed in Karachi was no different from the other ones.
On the other hand PIA's pilgrim flight on its way to Lahore is going to be late by two hours.
Hujjaj coming out of the airport also told Express News 24/7 that a luggage mix-up at Jeddah airport was one of the delaying factors.
An aviation expert on condition of anonymity said that airlines in commercial aviation adjust schedules to accommodate delays in order to minimize hardships to commercial passengers, but unfortunately, this is not the case with pilgrims.
Pakistani pilgrims’ pains are yet far from over as the ones waiting for their flights back home still have to put up with the torments of all kinds like staying long hours at Jeddah airport --thanks to national flag carrier.
To boot, the kith & kin of the returning pilgrims, thronging the airport to receive their loved ones have to suffer the same.
The continuous delays in the arrivals, and subsequent departures, of almost all trains on the main and branch lines have only added to the miseries of already riled passengers. Passengers said the Railways administration had failed to operate trains on time even from its headquarters.
According to details, Karachi Express’ schedule arrival time was 3:45pm, but it arrived at 8:45pm, Tezgam Express was expected at 3:15am but it reached Lahore at 9am, Allama Iqbal Express arrived at 10:35pm instead of 11:15am, while Quetta Express arrived seven hours late at 4:20pm time instead of 8:40am.
Badr Express, scheduled to reach at 1:30pm, arrived at 7:05pm. Tezgam was expected to arrive at 5pm but it had not reached Lahore by 9pm Thursday, while Jaffer Express, scheduled to arrive at 5pm, had was also reportedly expected at 12 midnight. The situation has almost remained the same for the last several weeks, but on Thursday, departure of trains from Lahore was badly affected due to a shortage of locomotives.
Express as well as passenger trains, including Chanab Express, Badr Express, Margala Express, Narowal Passenger, Karachi Express, Okara, Sarghodha, Lasani,Ravi and Baoo trains left for their respective destinations five to 10 hours later than scheduled. Passengers at the Lahore Railway Station complained of severe hardships to the late running of trains. Railways operational staff told Pakistan Today that the current weather was also part of the reason behind the trains running late, besides the obvious conundrum of a shortage of locomotives. They said the problem would persist and trains would run late until new locomotives were provided to Railways.
They appealed the RT Secretary and other concerned officials to take notice of this overcharging and imposed heavy fines on transporters so that no one can dare to violate the rules and regulations set by the authority as well as placate the concerns of poor commuter.
The Indonesian authorities caused forcible landing of the PIA plane carrying 54 passengers at its airport for allegedly violating the country's airspace, Geo News reported on Monday.
The plane was forced to land in Makassar city Sulawesi province by two Indonesian fighter jets.
According to local air force chief the PIA plane was carrying 54 passengers. He further said that authorities would let the plane go after showing important documents.
Meanwhile, PIA spokesman has said that Pakistan embassy in Indonesia has been informed about the forcible landing of the plane.
The plane was forced to land in Makassar city Sulawesi province by two Indonesian fighter jets.
According to local air force chief the PIA plane was carrying 54 passengers. He further said that authorities would let the plane go after showing important documents.
Meanwhile, PIA spokesman has said that Pakistan embassy in Indonesia has been informed about the forcible landing of the plane.
