KARACHI: Pakistan’s legendary comedian Umar Sharif’s body has arrived in Karachi from Turkey Wednesday morning.

Turkish Airlines flight TK-708, carrying the corps of the “comedy king” took off from Istanbul at 12:53 am and landed at the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi at around 5:33 am today morning, said  aviation sources.

Funeral prayers for the eternal peace of the legendary comedian will be offered today in the metropolis.

Umar Sharif’s wife Zareen Ghazal also has arrived back in Pakistan on board the same plane. His sons and other relatives received his body at the airport. Among others, Pakistan Peoples Party leader Saeed Ghani, MQM’s Kishwar Zahra also arrived at the airport’s cargo terminal.

Earlier, Umar Sharif’s body was flown to Munich from Nuremberg, Germany, before being flown to Istanbul aboard Turkish Air flight TK-1634.

The PPP leader paid tribute to the comic genius. “I call upon the people to attend Umar Sharif’s funeral in a large number as a message to the entire world that Pakistanis remember their legends even after they had passed away,” Ghani said while talking to media.

Later, his body wrapped in Pakistan’s green flag has been shifted to the Edhi morgue, Sohrab Goth from the airport. His fans showered his body with a lot of rose petals. 

Umar Sharif’s sons – Jawad Umar and Fawad Umar – have said that their father’s funeral prayers will be offered at 3 pm at Umar Sharif Park opposite Zia-ud-Din Hospital Clifton. Later, he will be buried in the cemetery adjacent to the shrine of Hazrat Abdullah Shah Ghazi.

People, in a large number, are showing up at Umar Sharif’s residence in Gulshan-e-Iqbal to offer their condolences to the bereaved family.

Umer Sharif was admitted to a hospital in Germany’s Nuremberg on Wednesday after his health deteriorated during his flight to the United States. He was shifted to the hospital after his air ambulance made a scheduled landing in Germany.

The comedian was diagnosed with multiple ailments including coronary conditions.

Three days after his stay in Germany, he was expected to resume his travel to the US for medical treatment. However, a couple of hours of his dialysis, he suffered a heart attack that took his life.

Umer Sharif passed away at the age of 66 at a hospital in Germany. His doctor and husband of former Pakistani actress Reema Khan, Dr Tariq Shahab said the comedian was feeling fine during his dialysis.

However, a subsequent heart attack proved fatal for him four hours after the dialysis at the Nuremberg South Hospital.

Sharif was born on April 19, 1955, to an Urdu speaking family in Liaquatabad, Karachi. The star was well-acclaimed as one of the biggest comedians in Asia.