MANSEHRA, April 21: Eight victims of Bhoja Air crash, including pilot, were laid to rest in their hometowns in Mansehra, Kohat and Swabi districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Saturday.

In Mansehra, five members of a family who died in the crash were laid to rest in Battle area after crying and sobbing people of their village, Khakoo, attended their funeral in large numbers.

The bodies of Zaheer Shah, his father Sardar Shah, mother Hussan Nisa, wife Hameeda Bibi and daughter Wajiha, were shifted to the village from Islamabad in two ambulances.

Mohammad Tufail, nephew of Mr Sardar, head of the ill-fated family, told reporters that a leg of his uncle lost one of his legs last year in an accident and life in Friday’s plane crash.

He said Mr Sardar’s family was to spend summer in the village.

Another relative of the family said it was a big tragedy after the October 8, 2005 earthquake for the entire village. He said everyone in the village was saddened to see five members of a family buried in a grave at the same time.

Meanwhile, Dilshad Begum, who was also killed in the crash, was laid to rest in her hometown, Baffa, in Mansehra.

It may be recalled that seven members of a family from Baffa had died in the July 2010 Airblue crash in Islamabad.

In Kohat, Noorullah Afridi, pilot of the crashed plane, was laid to rest in his ancestral town, Babri Banda.

His body identified by Nadra reached Kohat from Rawalpindi in the morning, while his family flew in from Karachi.

Mr Afridi joined Pakistan Air Force in 1972 and retired in 1994 as wing commander. He later joined a private air line in Saudi Arabia.

He served in Shaheen Airlines before joining Bhoja Air a week ago. His parents died a few years ago.

Mr Afridi is the second cousin of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa housing minister Amjid Khan Afridi and a relative of former provincial minister for jails Hidayatullah Khan Afridi. His funeral was attended by a large number of people, officers and his friends. He left behind three children, who are permanently settled in Karachi.

In Swabi, a woman victim of Bhoja Air crash was laid to rest at his ancestral graveyard in Swabi Khas.

The woman, Rakhshanda, who married Nizar Khan a few months ago, was to reach her parents’ house in Swabi after her husband left for the UAE for job but she died in the crash.