Pak team returns with crashed PIA plane's decoded data

A two-member Pakistani team investigating the PIA plane crash near the Karachi airport on May 22 has returned to the country with the evidence extracted from the cockpit voice and flight data recorders of the aircraft after they were decoded by French experts, it was reported on Monday.

The two devices were taken to the French city of Le Bourget, near Paris, by an 11-member team of Airbus, the manufacturer of the aircraft, following their investigation of the crash site, The Express Tribune reported.

The Pakistani team will make its preliminary findings public on June 22.

Yannick Malinge, the chief product safety officer at the Airbus, informed Pakistani authorities in a letter that the investigation into the crash was under way and the flight data and cockpit voice recorders had been analysed and listened to.

The letter read that at the current stage of investigation, Airbus did not have any specific safety recommendations for airlines.

The A320 crashed short of the runway at Karachi airport on May 22, killing 97 people on board after the pilots reported the loss of both engines. Two passengers survived and there was significant damage on the ground.

Technical teams of the Civil Aviation Authority and the airline will undertake the task of removing an engine and the landing gear of the ill-fated aircraft still lodged on the rooftops of two houses from Monday, said The Express Tribune report.

The authorities have been unable to extract the two heavy parts over concerns that the two houses might collapse in the process.

The pillars will be fortified to reduce the chances of the houses collapsing and cranes and other heavy machinery will be used for removing the parts.

The work is expected to be completed by Tuesday.

Later, teams of the PIA and the Sindh Building Control Authority will ascertain the damage caused to the houses.