Death of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq - Crash

Crash

At 4:30 on 17 August 1988 the VVIP flight, Pak One, took off from Bahawalpur airport. On board the plane was total of 31 people, including General Zia, the US Ambassador, the chief of the US military mission in Pakistan and a group of senior officers from Pakistan army. For 2 minutes and 30 seconds the plane rose into the clear blue sky. Takeoff was smooth and without problems. Suddenly the Bahawlpur control tower lost control. Then the plane plunged from the sky and hit the ground with such force that it was blown to pieces and wreckage scattered over a wide area.

The aircraft departed Bahawalpur early, ahead of a storm. The president's C-130 had been fitted with an air-conditioned VIP capsule where Zia and his American guests were seated. It was walled off from the flight crew and a passenger and baggage section in the rear. The plane was packed with Pakistani army officers, including General Akhtar Abdur Rehman, chairman of the Pakistani Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as American Ambassador to Pakistan Arnold Raphel and General Herbert M. Wassom, the head of the US military aid mission to Pakistan.

Shortly after takeoff, the control tower lost contact with the aircraft. Witnesses cited in Pakistan's official investigation said that the C-130 began to pitch "in an up-and-down motion" while flying low shortly after take-off before going into a "near-vertical dive", exploding on impact, killing all on board.