Photo: ANP
A Pakistani airliner carrying 152 people crashed in a ball of flames Wednesday into densely wooded hills outside Islamabad amid heavy rain and poor visibility, killing everyone on board.
Police said bodies were scattered near the smouldering wreckage in hills that were inaccessible and shrouded in thick cloud due to a downpour. It is Pakistan’s first major aviation accident in four years.
A spokesman for Airblue, the airline operating the Airbus A-321, says it took off from Karachi bound for the capital Islamabad with 144 passengers and six crew members on board. The plane plummeted into a gorge between two hills, enveloped in cloud and some distance from the road.
Conditions are hampering rescue efforts and visibility from helicopters hovering overhead is bad. Witnesses describe flames and smoke rising from parts of the wreckage. Ambulances are queuing along the nearest road and anxious crowds have gathered on the approach to the Margalla Hills. Soldiers, paramilitary troops and rescue workers are having to walk painstakingly uphill to reach the site.
Airblue is one of Pakistan’s most respected airlines. It has only been operating since 2004, using next-generation Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft on routes within Pakistan as well as to Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Muscat and Manchester. Pakistan enjoys a relatively good air safety record.
