A U.S. diplomat who was involved in a fatal traffic accident has left Pakistan, two days after he was barred from leaving the South Asian country, U.S. and Pakistani officials said.
The departure of U.S. military attache Colonel Joseph Emanuel Hall was reported by Pakistani officials and confirmed by the U.S. State Department on May 14.
Hall ran a red light in Islamabad on April 7 and hit motorcyclist Attique Baig, killing him. But the diplomat was not arrested because of his diplomatic immunity.
After registering a protest over the accident last month, authorities in Islamabad blocked Hall on May 12 from leaving Pakistan, forcing a U.S. military aircraft sent on his behalf to depart without him.
The U.S. Embassy in Pakistan expressed "deep sympathy" for the family of the dead man and for another person who was injured in the accident and said that it was cooperating with Pakistani investigators.
