Asia-Pacific

Plane crashes in Pakistan, over 150 onboard

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-07-28 14:20

ISLAMABAD - A commercial Pakistani passenger plane with more than 150 people on board crashed in bad weather on Wednesday in hills near the capital, Islamabad, an aviation spokesman said.

At least 40 survivors have been found in a plane crash which took place in the suburbs of the Pakistani capital Islamabad Wednesday morning, according to the officials with the rescue teams.

All the survivors have been given first-aid treatment on the spot and are being shifted to local hospitals in Islamabad, which have all declared emergency following the plane crash.

So far 20 dead bodies including that of the pilot have been recovered from the crash site, said sources on the site, adding some of the bodies were still on fire when recovered. One of the dead bodies was reportedly identified as Barak or Barkat. No further details about the killed and survivors were available.

No Chinese or foreigners have been found on the passenger name list released shortly after the plane crash, sources told Xinhua after talking on the telephone to the Airblue airliner which the crashed plane belonged to.

The rescue work is still underway.

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The plane belonging to AirBlue, a private airliner, lost contact with the control room of the Islamabad International Airport at 0443 GMT while flying from the southern city of Karachi.

"There were 146 passengers and six crewmen on board. We are gathering information. We have no more details," Mubarik Shah, spokesman of the state-run Civil Aviation Authority, told Reuters.

A thick blanket of cloud could be rising from the forested Margalla Hills near Islamabad and a helicopter hovering overhead amid rain.

"It was raining. I saw the plane flying very low from the window of my office," witness Khadim Hussain said.

Pakistan's AAJ television showed footage of at least one helicopter hovering over what appeared to be the site of the crash, with columns of smoke billowing from heavily forested ground. Flames licked at trees in the area.

The cause of the crash could not be immediately ascertained.