A 17-year-old Pakistani-origin boy, attempting to set a world record for an around-the-globe flight has died in a tragic crash over the Pacific Ocean while efforts are on to locate his father.
Haris Suleman was piloting a single-engine aircraft under the watchful eye of his 58-year-old father Babar Suleman to try to set a world record and raise money to build 1,000 schools in Pakistan.
The journey, months in the planning, would take the pair on a 42,647-km odyssey, with 25 stops planned in 15 countries.
Their Beechcraft A36 Bonanza aircraft crashed on Tuesday night, just 20 minutes after taking off from Pago Pago, the capital of American Samoa island en route to Hawaii, Haris’ sister, Hiba Suleman, said last night.
It is unclear why the plane crashed or why the duo took off at night. “He was doing something that he loved. He was doing something adventurous,” she said of her brother, who received his pilot’s license in June. And he was doing it for a good cause, she added.