Snow Being Cleared for Resumption of Flight Operations at Skardu Airport

[Abbas Ali]

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has been playing savior in retrieving patients from Skardu and dropping them to Islamabad by air. ‘On average, we transfer around 5 to 6 patients on our daily flights along with an occasional stretcher case’, says PIA official, Abdullah Khan. ‘We have to save the precious lives of all the patients we encounter; they have to reach Islamabad for further treatment and, currently, PIA is only available service to cater to all these cases’.

PIA in coordination with Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) prepared endlessly to deal with the harsh climate and successfully resumed their flight PK451/452 on 18th and 19th January. ‘Our staff worked overtime and attended office till late hours to make all the required equipment operational (as we need to start the equipment intermittently to keep them warm for next day’s flight). A good numbers of patients, students, armed forces etc. were picked up on our flights for Islamabad in these two days. In fact, remains of two deceased individuals from Kuwait were also transported from Islamabad to Skardu on our flight PK452 on 19th January’, according to Abdullah Khan.

He further added, ‘PIA also operated a special flight by ATR, on 10th January 2020, to collect an accident victim with a spinal cord injury, who had to be transported to ISB for urgent treatment. This was because no facility, providing MRI scans, exist in Skardu, which is a prerequisite for treatment in that case’.

Source: globalvillagespace.com