Islamabad: A Pakistani passenger plane crashed near the Abbotabad district on Wednesday killing all 47 passengers on board, including prominent singer-turned cleric Junaid Jamshed, said officials.
The Pakistan International Airlines plane PK-661 crashed in Saddha Batolni village near Pakistan Ordinance Factory, Havelian, while en route to Islamabad from Chitral in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
The Civil Aviation Authority confirmed that there are no survivors. So far, 36 bodies have been recovered.
The national carrier’s flight departed from Chitral around 3:30 pm and was expected to land at Islamabad’s Benazir Bhutto International Airport at around 4:40 pm.
A PIA spokesman confirmed that the pilot had given a ‘mayday’ distress call to traffic control before the plane went off the radar and crashed near Abbottabad.
PIA Spokesman Daniyal Gilani said there were 42 passengers, five crew members and one ground engineer on board. The plane manifest showed 31 men, 9 women and 2 infants on board the flight, including three foreigners.
A senior aviation official said the aircraft suffered engine problems.
Irfan Ilahi, secretary aviation, confirmed that the ATR-42 turboprob plane suffered engine problems.
“It is premature to say anything at the moment, but we know that the aircraft had engine problems,” he said.
Jamshed’s brother told the media that his brother and his wife and other members of a ‘Tableegi’ (religious preaching) group were on the flight while returning from a religious tour to Chitral.
Army troops and helicopters have been mobilised to the site of the crash, Inter-Services Public Relations said.
Abid Ali, a senior official of the national disaster and management cell, said rescue work was underway at the crash site.
Earlier in October, a pilot of the Pakistan Air Force was killed as his Mirage jet crashed near Karachi’s Musharraf Colony. The deadliest crash was in 2010, when an Airbus 321 operated by private airline Air Blue and flying from Karachi crashed into hills outside Islamabad while about to land, killing all 152 on board.
