Crash snuffs out newlywed, youth parliament team

Ayesha and Asif, who were flying to Islamabad for their honeymoon, were killed five days after their wedding.

“We are all traumatised. They got married last Friday and were going on their honeymoon. Our house, which till Wednesday was echoing with laughter, is reverberating with cries,” said Sadia, Ayesha’s cousin. A rescue worker informed Ayesha’s father about her death from her cellphone at the crash site.

Another couple, Aisha and Mohammed, were on the flight from Karachi to Islamabad to attend a funeral. “What will I tell their children now,” lamented Aisha’s brother Akhtar. The couple had left their children with him.

Six young men and women, part of the Youth Parliament of Pakistan, were travelling to the national capital to attend a session. They were identified as Hassan Javed Khan, Syeda Rabab Zehra Naqvi, Prem Chand, Bilal Jamaee, Owais bin Laiq and Syed Arsalan Ahmad.

Syed Shan-e-Hussain Naqvi, a youth parliament member who did not board the flight, was in a state of shock. “I spent the night at my friend’s house. When I called to tell my parents that I didn’t go, my mother couldn’t stop crying.”

The new “prime minister” of the youth parliament, Hassan Javed Khan, was to join Oxford University this fall.

While a man lost his three sons, the crash also killed Australian scientist Mirko Cvjeticanin, and two Americans. Up and coming woman footballer Misha Dawood of Karachi was also among the dead.

The few who reserved seats but did not board the flight thanked their lucky stars. Former federal sports minister Mir Mehran Khan Bijrani and his son Salman had confirmed seats but missed the flight.

Saeed Minhas, who had reserved a ticket, decided against travelling. “My wife called me crying,” he said. “I asked why, and she said the plane crashed.”