General Zia-ul-Haq, the President of Pakistan, died in a mysterious plane crash on August 17th, 1988 along with other high-ranking civilian and military officials. The flight took off from Bahawalpur Airport with 31 people on board and lost contact with the control tower 11 minutes after takeoff. The Pakistani conclusion was that the crash was due to sabotage, finding explosives on pieces of debris, while the US concluded it was likely due to mechanical issues with the plane's elevator controls.