A man who flew his plane into Beijing’s tallest skyscraper last week was a 66-year-old local resident who had expressed suicidal thoughts, Chinese authorities said Thursday, amid intense speculation about the pilot’s identity and motivation.
The crash took place on Friday evening when a small plane appeared to evade some of the world’s strictest aviation controls and slam into the 109-story CITIC Tower that dominates the capital’s skyline, killing the pilot and injuring 13 other people.
چین میں اس واقعے کو سختی سے سنسر کیا گیا تھا اور حکام کو حادثے کا اعتراف کرنے میں تقریباً ایک دن لگا۔
جُمِرات کو حکام نے نئی تفصیلات جاری کیں کہ طیارہ کون اڑا رہا تھا۔
The pilot, who was only identified by his surname Liu, took off from a general aviation airport in northeastern Beijing on Friday afternoon, initially flying with a companion in the two-seater Sunward SA60L Aurora, a domestically manufactured aircraft, according to a statement from the city’s Chaoyang District government.
Liu, who obtained his first pilot license in 2021, then flew solo and deviated from the designated flight path, losing contact with the airport before hitting the 528-meter (1732-foot) CITIC Tower in the capital’s Central Business District, home to major companies and foreign embassies.
Citing multiple references in his diary to “ending (his) life,” officials said Liu was a self-employed divorcé who lived alone and suffered from chronic insomnia and anxiety. بیان کے مطابق، تفتیش کاروں نے نتیجہ اخذ کیا ہے کہ یہ واقعہ ذاتی وجوہات کی وجہ سے عوامی تحفظ کو خطرے میں ڈالنے کا معاملہ تھا۔
بیان میں مزید کہا گیا کہ 13 زخمیوں میں سے کسی کو بھی جان لیوا حالت کا سامنا نہیں تھا، ایک کو پہلے ہی ہسپتال سے فارغ کر دیا گیا تھا۔
The shocking crash on Friday sent shards of glass and aircraft debris plummeting hundreds of feet down to the streets below as office workers left for the weekend, causing panic in the heart of one of the world’s most fortified cities and raising questions about Beijing’s air defense systems.
تھوڑی دیر بعد ایسا لگا جیسے کچھ ہوا ہی نہ ہو۔
واقعے کے تمام حوالے – اور اس کی چونکا دینے والی فوٹیج – کو چینی سوشل میڈیا سے تیزی سے صاف کر دیا گیا۔ State media – including the country’s national broadcaster CCTV, headquartered across the road from the crash site – initially made no mention of the incident.
