KARACHI: The funeral prayers for Squadron Leader Zain-ul-Arif Khan, who passed away in the PIA plane crash on 22 May, were offered at PAF Base Faisal in Karachi on Saturday.
According to a statement issued by PAF, Zain-ul-Arif was posted at Air Headquarters Islamabad and was traveling to Karachi to celebrate Eid with his family. His body was identified with the help of DNA and was handed over to the PAF officials for burial.
Air Vice-Marshal Ahmad Hassan, Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (engineering) and Air Vice-Marshal Abbas Ghumman, Air Officer Commanding, Southern Air Command along with a large number of PAF personnel, civil and military officials and relatives of the martyred officer attended the funeral.
The officer was laid to rest at PAF graveyard in Karachi’s Korangi Creek with full military honours, the statement read. The PIA flight PK-8303 had crashed into a residential area on 22 May.
As many as 97 passengers and crew members of the aircraft were killed in the incident, except two survivors. However, no resident of the Model Colony’s Jinnah Garden where the plane crashed was among the victims.
Only two survived the crash — the chief executive of the Bank of Punjab and a young engineer.