- Title: Pakistan pop star-turned-cleric feared dead in air crash
- Date: 7th December 2016
- Summary: KARACHI, PAKISTAN (FILE - AUGUST, 2016) (REUTERS) JUNAID JAMSHED PREPARING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE ABOUT CLEANLINESS CAMPAIGN JAMSHED ADDRESSING NEWS CONFERENCE PEOPLE TALKING TO JAMSHED VEHICLE USED TO CLEAN STREETS JAMSHED BEING BRIEFED ABOUT THE VEHICLE
- Embargoed: 22nd December 2016 18:39
- Keywords: Pakistan crash aircraft mountains singer
- Location: KARACHI, PAKISTAN
- City: KARACHI, PAKISTAN
- Country: Pakistan
- Reuters ID: LVA0025BVZCCN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Junaid Jamshed, a Pakistani pop star-turned-evangelical Muslim cleric, was on board an aircraft that crashed into a mountainside on Wednesday (December 7), an airline official told Reuters.
Jamshed rocketed to fame in Pakistan in the 1980s and 1990s as the singer for the Vital Signs rock group, and later launched a solo career, with a string of chart-topping albums and hits.
His name appeared on a passenger manifest for Pakistan International Airlines' (PIA) flight PK661, which crashed near the northern town of Havelian. His presence on board was confirmed by Sohail Ahmed, a PIA official in Chitral.
Jamshed retired from music in 2001 and announced that he was devoting his life to Islam, joining the conservative Tableeghi Jamaat religious organisation.
Mourners gathered at his home in Karachi after the news spread.
The military said 40 bodies had been recovered and rescue efforts involved about 500 soldiers, doctors and paramedics. The bodies were shifted to the Ayub Medical Centre in nearby Abbottabad, about 20km (12 miles) from crash site.
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) said its plane lost contact with the control tower en route to the capital Islamabad from the northern region of Chitral.
In his last tweet, Jamshed posted pictures of a snow-capped mountain, calling Chitral "Heaven on Earth." - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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