PAKISTAN PLANE CRASHES, KILLING ALL 48 PEOPLE ABOARD
A Pakistan International Airlines flight with 48 people aboard crashed in a mountainous area of the country Wednesday, leaving no survivors, airline officials said.
The commercial flight, with 42 passengers, five crew members and one ground engineer, went missing shortly after taking off from the Pakistani city of Chitral for Islamabad, PIA said. Airline spokesman Daniyal Gilani said the plane had lost touch with control tower operators.
The passengers included two infants, well- known singer Junaid Jamshed and three travelers from Australia, South Korea and China.
“All passengers and members of crew are dead,” Azam Sehgal, PIA chairman, said at a news conference at the Islamabad airport late Wednesday.
He said the plane’s black box recorder had been found. PIA 661 was fit to fly, he said, and it was unclear what caused the crash.
Sehgal said the pilot of the ATR- 42 aircraft told the control tower at 4: 09 p. m. that an engine had developed a technical problem.
Moments later he made a “mayday call,” and then the plane disappeared.
“I think that there was no technical error or human error,” Sehgal said. “Obviously, there will be a proper investigation.”
The crash site is about 45 miles west of Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital. State TV carried pictures of a fire near the crash site in a village.
Rescue team member Mohammad Kashif told broadcaster GEO TV that responders put out the fire by putting sand on the branches and in the area surrounding the crash site.
“The debris was scattered about 100 meters out. The plane fell in a ravine behind the mountains, so the debris is not very scattered.
“People on the ground told me that the plane slammed onto the ground two or three times before it fell into the water,” Kashif said.
“There is no question of landing in this terrain for helicopters or planes. There are settlements on both sides of the crash site.”
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif expressed his “deep grief and sorrow” over the crash.
“The entire nation is deeply saddened over today’s unfortunate crash and shares the grief of the families who lost their dear ones,” Sharif said in a statement.