48 die in plane crash in Pakistan

LONDON: It’s highly unlikely there were any survivors from a Pakistani plane carrying 48 people that crashed near Abbottabad yesterday, a government official has said.

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) said Flight PK661 lost contact with the control tower en route to the capital, Islamabad, from the northern region of Chitral. The plane crashed in the Havelian area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, about 125km north of Islamabad.

“All of the bodies are burnt beyond recognition. The debris is scattered,” said Taj Muhammad Khan, a government official. Khan, who was at the site, said witnesses told him that “the aircraft has crashed in a mountainous area, and before it hit the ground it was on fire”.

Pakistani pop star-turned-evangelical cleric Junaid Jamshed was on the plane, according to the passenger manifest. He retired from music in 2001 and announced he was devoting his life to Islam.

TV footage showed debris and a large fire at the site of the crash, and local villagers collecting the remains of the passengers and covering the bodies with cloths.

According to a Pakistan International Airlines spokesman, the plane had lost touch with the control tower. He said the plane was carrying 42 passengers, five crew members and a ground engineer.

The military said 36 bodies had already been recovered. The search continues. – The Independent