All 127 aboard Pakistan plane killed in crash
All 127 people on board a Boeing 737 plane of Bhoja Air are reported dead after it crashed near a Pakistan Air Force airbase in the capital on Friday possibly due to bad weather conditions.
There were nine crew members among the dead.
Heavy rain and wind storm were lashing parts of the capital when the plane crashed near Chaklala, Rawalpindi, at 6.50 pm, minutes before it was to land in Islamabad, Pak media reported quoting Defense Ministry and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) officials.
The commercial flight of Bhoja Air, a small commercial airline that had recently re-started operations after running into financial problems, that left Karachi at 5:00 pm. It was given clearance to land in Islamabad but it reportedly lost contact with the control tower minutes before landing.
Pak Defense Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhar said the plane broke up about 10 km short of the runway of Islamabad International Airport, and burst into flames.
Saifur Rehman, an official from the police rescue team said, "Fire erupted after the crash. The wreckage is on fire, the plane is completely destroyed."
The Aviation Herald, which monitors aviation accidents, quoted rescue teams as saying that at least 5 houses in the Bahria Town residential complex were destroyed .
This was the worst air accident since July 2010 when an Airbus A321 flying on Karachi-Islamabad sector crashed before landing killing all 152 people on board.
Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani on Friday ordered his country's Civil Aviation Authority "to gear up all its resources for rescue operation," state media reported.
Workers sifting through the wreckage in the heavily populated residential area have so far found around 50 bodies, a government official said.
While experts are looking at the possibilities of a technical snag, a separate inquiry has been launched by Pakistan's Safety Investigation Board, and two crisis operation rooms have been set up at airports in Islamabad and Karachi.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik stated that wings of the plane caught fire before it crashed. Eyewitnesses however said that lightening may have struck the plane.
Source: The Asia News.Net
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