Pakistan places restrictions on crash airline boss

PAKISTAN: Pakistan barred the head of an airline whose jet crashed near Islamabad from leaving the country on Saturday as it began an investigation into the disaster that sparked anger among distraught relatives.

The Bhoja Air flight from Karachi came down in fields near a village on the outskirts of the Pakistani capital on Friday evening, killing all 127 people onboard, in the city's second major fatal air crash in less than two years.

Interior minister Rehman Malik said a committee had been set up to investigate the crash and the head of the airline Farooq Bhoja had been put on an “exit control list”, meaning he is banned from leaving Pakistan. Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) officials said the second-hand Boeing 737-200 was nearly 30 years old, but an airline spokeswoman said the plane's age had no bearing on the tragedy, which happened as a thunderstorm hit the city.

AFP