ISLAMABAD, Oct 16, Reuter: The plane crash which killed President Mohammad Zia-Ul-Haq on August 17 was caused by sabotage, a Pakistani Official said on Sunday.
A Pakistan Air Force Technical investigation carried out with U.S. Assistance, failed to pinpoint the cause.
But its report, presented at a news conference, said there was no evidence of mechanical failure and a suicide mission by the crew could not be considered seriously.
“The finding is that it is a case of sabotage resulting in the crash of the plane,” Fateh Khan Bandial, the Senior Civil Servant in charge of coordinating further inquiries, said.
The technical report, which included analysis of debris by U.S. laboratories and interviews with eyewitnesses, was more cautiously worded.
“In the absence of technical reasons that explain the cause of the mishap, the (investigating) board believes that the accident was most probably caused through perpetration of a criminal act or sabotage” it said.
The report was no reference to who might be responsible, and the officials said investigations by Pakistani Intelligence Agencies were continuing.
U.S Ambassador Arnold Raphel and several of Pakistan’s top military men were also killed when the Air Force Hercules C130 plunged into a field near Bahawalpur in Eastern Pakistan.
Zia had ruled this Moslem country of 104 million people with a firm hand for 11 years after seizing power in 1977, and his sudden death threw the political scene wide open. The campaign for elections on November 16 is in full swing.
The report said a total of 31 people died in the crash, rather than 30s officially reported previously. There was no immediate explanation of the discrepancy.
It ruled out the possibility that an Anti-Aircraft missile might have shot down the Hercules and said there was no sign of fire on board until the plane hit the ground.
‘The investigators found no evidence of any high intensity explosion on board. But traces of a low intensity blast might have been destroyed in the burning wreckage and this possibility could not be ruled out, the report said,
The investigators found some chemicals in unusual quantities, especially on remnants of mangoes. Two crates of mangoes were loaded on board at Bahawalpur shortly before the ill-fated plane took off.
The Scientific team had succeeded in making a detonator using the same chemicals, which included potassium, phosphorus, chlorine and antimony, the report said,
It speculated that a low-intensity device could have been used to release poisonous gases into the cockpit to incapacitate the four man crew.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 21, 1988
