Pakistan: PIA flight departs with parents, as six-year-old son’s body lies at Islamabad airport

In an agonizing incident, a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight from Islamabad to Skardu left the body of a six-year-old child at the Islamabad International Airport on Friday while his grieving parents continued their journey, unaware of the shocking mistake, ANI reported on Saturday.

The report said the parents of the deceased boy fainted due to shock and disbelief at Skardu airport when they learnt that their son's mortal remains had been left behind at Islamabad's airport.

The report further said that the boy, Mujtaba--a resident of Kharmang district's Katshi village-- was diagnosed with a brain tumour at a hospital in Skardu, and doctors referred him to Benazir Bhutto Hospital in Rawalpindi for treatment a month ago. However, Mujtaba died on Thursday.

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Mujtaba’s grieving parents decided to transport his body to Katshi for burial. They booked a PIA flight for Friday and confirmed their tickets on flight PK-451 from Islamabad to Skardu.

The grief-stricken parents of Mujtaba brought the body to Islamabad airport at 6 am and completed the cargo procedure for the body after fulfilling SOPs and the airline’s rules and making the payment.

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The report quoted a relative of the deceased child as saying that the body was scheduled to be transported with the parents to Skardu from Islamabad at 9 am, but the flight got delayed for four hours. When the flight arrived at the Skardu airport at 2 pm, the parents were informed that mistakenly the body was not loaded on the aircraft and was left behind at the Islamabad Airport.

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In the midst of the chaos, the PIA officials said the company, which handles cargo at the airport, was responsible for not loading the body and assured the parents that action would be taken against it for negligence.