Plane Crash Leaves 152 Dead
A PLANE crashed into hills on the outskirts of Pakistan's capital early this morning killing all 152 people on board.
Rescuers, who rushed to the dense forest scene, had to dig through the rubble with their bare hands, as fire and thick smoke from the wreckage hampered their efforts.
The fire has since been extinguished, but access to the hillside remains limited to pedestrians and helicopters.
Civil aviation official Pervez George said the cause of the Airblue crash was not immediately clear.
The plane was flying from Karachi to Islamabad and was trying to land during difficult weather.
Mr George said: "The plane was about to land at the Islamabad airport when it lost contact with the control tower, and later we learned that the plane had crashed."
Guards with the forestry service said they had found some wreckage and seen some bodies, police official Mohammad Saeed said.
The army confirmed it was sending special troops and helicopters to the area.
Pakistani news channels showed what appeared to be wreckage of the plane.
Mohammed Usman, an official at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport, said dozens of devastated relatives of passengers had gathered there desperate to get information about their loved ones.
Saqlain Altaf told Pakistan's ARY news channel that he was on a family outing in the hills when he saw the plane, looking unsteady in the air.
He said, adding he heard the horror crash: "The plane had lost balance, and then we saw it going down."
Officials at first thought it was a small plane, but later revised that.
Mr George said 146 passengers were on the flight along with six crew members.
The Sun