Pakistan: Body of 6-Year-Old Left Behind in Islamabad as PIA Flight Departs with Parents

Islamabad: In a startling display of alleged negligence, Pakistan International Airlines staff forgot to load the body of a deceased six-year-old boy on a plane even as his parents flew out to Skardu, unaware that the body of their son had been left behind in Islamabad. According to a report by Dawn, six-year-old Mujitaba, a resident of Kharmang district in Pakistan-occupied Gilgit Baltistan, was diagnosed with a tumour sometime ago and doctors in Skardu referred him to experts in Rawalpindi for further treatment. 

The boy was accompanied on this journey by his parents. Tragically, despite weeks of treatement at the Benazir Bhutto Hospital, Mujitaba lost his life earlier this week. His parents decided to take the body of their son back to his village of Katshi for burial. An initial plan to travel back with the body by road was set aside due to the hot weather and long travel duration. 

Ultimately, the parents of the boy decided to travel back with the body on a PIA flight from Islamabad to Skardu. On Friday, their tickets for PIA flight PK-451 were confirmed and Mujitaba's parents completed the necessary formalities to transport his body in the cargo hold. 

According to a relative of the family quoted in the Dawn report, the flight was supposed to leave Islamabad by 09:00. Instead, it was delayed by four hours and only left at 13:00. Upon arriving in Skardu an hour later, the boy's family was horrified to find that Mujitaba's body had been left behind in Islamabad.    

Officials of the PIA and the Civil Aviation Authority attempted to placate the boy's family and relatives, assuring them that the body would be transported to Skardu on Saturday. PIA officials furthermore said that a separate company is responsible for loading baggage at the Islamabad airport and claimed that they would take strict action against that company for its negligence in the case. 

Nevertheless, Mujitaba's family continued to chant slogans against the PIA, highlighting that they had paid a higher price to transport his body despite being poor. A relative of the boy was even quoted in the Dawn report as saying that the body had deliberately not been loaded on the plane. 

The relative claimed that a federal minister was scheduled to fly to Gilgit from Islamabad on Friday but this flight was cancelled on account of bad weather, At this point, the minister reportedly decided to fly to Skardu and the aforementioned PK-451 flight was delayed to accommodate him.

It was during this delay that Mujitaba's body was allegedly left behind.