Remand of pilot extended in crash landing case

LAHORE
An anti-terrorism court judge, Khawaja Zafar Iqbal, Tuesday extended physical remand of a private airline pilot for three days accused of crash landing under the influence of alcohol.
Sarwar Road police produced accused pilot Asmat Mehmood before the court and sought extension in his physical remand. The police stated that yet it has to record statements of passengers and co-pilot. The police prayed the court to extend physical custody of the pilot.
The court after hearing the plea of the police has extended physical remand of Asmat Mehmood for three days.
Previously, a counsel of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) had stated before the court that the accused pilot was drunk at the time of crash landing and could have hit plane into some buildings and could have killed the passengers along with people on surrounding surface. He said that the alcohol level in the blood of pilot was 83MG per deciliter at the time of crash landing which is much higher than permissible ratio or concentration level for pilots, which is 40MG per deciliter.
The CAA counsel alleged that the accused pilot might have an affiliation with terrorist outfit and police should also investigate this aspect as well.
On November 3, flight NL-142 of a private company carrying 121 passengers and crew, made a crash landing at Allama Iqbal Airport. The tyre of the aircraft burst and skid off the runway. More than ten passengers received injuries. After the incident, CAA registered a case against the pilot.