ISLAMABAD – A Pakistani airliner with 127 people on board crashed in bad weather as it came in to land in Islamabad yesterday, scattering wreckage and leaving no sign of survivors.
The Boeing 737, operated by local airline Bhoja Air, was flying to the capital from Pakistan’s biggest city and business hub, Karachi. It crashed more than five miles (about 9 km) from the international airport.
Aviation official Pervez George gave no details of casualties. Rescue workers who combed muddy fields at the crash site with flashlights said there was no chance of finding survivors.
Body parts, wallets and eyeglasses lay among wreckage strewn in a small settlement just outside the city.
Residents said they had seen a ball of fire in the sky when the aircraft crashed.
Parts of the craft smashed into electricity poles, blanketing the area in darkness.
Bhoja Air said the jet crashed during its approach to Islamabad due to bad weather. There was no indication from the government that it could have been the result of foul play.
A man who had been waiting at Islamabad’s Benazir Bhutto International Airport for the flight shouted “my two daughters are dead” as he broke down after hearing the news.
He slumped on the floor in a state of shock as other relatives crowded around lists of those who had been on board.
An uncle of the two sisters, who were aged 18 and 20, said they had been supposed to return to Islamabad on Sunday, but flew early to see an aunt who is visiting from London.
“We don’t even know when or where we will get to see their bodies,” said the uncle, Qamar Abbas.
Nearby, other relatives hugged each other and sobbed. One man cried “my kids, my kids”.
Among them was Zarina Bibi, who was desperate to determine whether her husband had been on the flight. “He called me before leaving Karachi, but I don’t know if he was on this flight or not,” she said.
State television reported that all hospitals in Islamabad and the nearby city of Rawalpindi had been put on high alert after the crash.
At Islamabad’s main hospital, rescue workers brought in remains of passengers covered with white sheets that were soaked with blood.
“Two years later the same story is being repeated in my house again,” said Nasreen Mubasher, who was at the hospital waiting for the remains of her brother-in-law to be brought in.
Another brother-in-law had died in what was the last major aviation incident in Pakistan, in July 2010, when a commercial airliner with 152 people on board operated by AirBlue crashed into the hills overlooking Islamabad.
In a statement on its website, the Boeing company said it wished to extend “its profound condolences to the families and friends” of the Bhoja Air passengers.
At Karachi airport, Asim Hashmi complained the airline’s counter was shut and said he had no way of getting information about his aunt and cousin, who were on flight B4-213.
“We don’t know anything,” he said.
“Just pray for the souls of the departed. That is all we can do now.” – (Reuters)