Anti-locust spray aircraft crashes in Sadiqabad, two pilots die

RY KHAN: An aircraft engaged in an aerial spray to get rid of swarms of locust crashed in the Bandhi area of Sadiqabad, sub-district of Rahim Yar Khan, leaving two pilots on board dead on Sunday. The aircraft crashed at Chak No 215 near Sadiqabad due to a technical fault, resulting in the death of both pilots on board the plane.

The Sadiqabad assistant commissioner rushed to the site with rescue teams and contingents of police. Police cordoned off the spot. The two martyrs have been identified as pilot Muhammad Shoaib and engineer of the Plant Protection Department, Fawad Butt. The district administration of Rahim Yar Khan had called the aircraft from the government of Punjab for anti locust spray in the region. The Plant Protection Department of the federal government had provided the aircraft to the provincial government for use in aerial spray in anti-locust operations in the province.

Initial investigations suggested the plane crashed due to a technical fault, said the district administration, adding that the bodies were being removed to Sheikh Zayed Hospital in Rahim Yar Khan.

Rahim Yar Khan Deputy Commissioner Ali Shahzad said the two men had been tasked with spraying pesticide in Cholistan to eliminate locusts. He said that the aircraft had taken off from Sheikh Zayed International Airport on Sunday morning.

The plane was spraying pesticide in the area to tackle another wave of locust attacks which began in Dec 2019 on the request of the district administration.

In 2019, widespread heavy rainfall during March and April in Balochistan had created ideal ecological conditions for a rapid increase in the number of locusts.

In anticipation of the outbreak, the Punjab government had directed officials to thwart a possible attack by conducting a large-scale aerial and land spraying of pesticide.

However, in November 2019, reports surfaced that one of the reasons the pests had not been eliminated was because the department responsible for the task, the Directorate of Locusts Control, Islamabad, was stocking expired pesticide.

In a statement, National Food Security and Research Minister Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar expressed his sorrow over the incident.

"Our prayers are with the families of the young men who lost their lives in the line of duty. Their invaluable services will be remembered forever." he said.