Pakistani plane crashes with 127 on board

By Mahawish Rezvi and Chris Allbritton

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – A Pakistani airliner with 127

people on board crashed in bad weather as it came in to land in Islamabad on Friday, 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 into wheat fields more than 5 miles (about 9 km) from the

airport.

Rawal Khan Maitla, director general of Emergency Disaster Management for the Capital Development Authority,

said there were no survivors.

Rescue workers walked through mud at the crash site with flashlights or with the lights

of their cellphones looking for passengers’ remains. One held up a tattered e-ticket receipt.

Body parts, wallets and

eyeglasses lay among wreckage strewn in a small settlement just outside Islamabad.

“It was as if the entire sky had

burst into flames,” said a resident of the area.

Parts of the aircraft smashed into electricity poles, blanketing the

area in darkness, or into houses. There were no reports of casualties on the ground.

Bhoja Air said the airplane

crashed during its approach in 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 yelled “my two daughters are dead” as tears streamed down his face.

In a state of shock, he then slumped on the

floor and sat silently as other relatives of passengers crowded around lists of those on board.

The uncle of the

sisters, 18 and 20, said they were 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, who

kept mumbling “no, no, no” to himself.

HEADED FOR HONEYMOON

When Sajjad Rizvi and Sania Abbas boarded the

flight, they were looking forward to their honeymoon in a hill resort near Islamabad. “We had a joint wedding on March 28,”

said Sania’s brother Zeeshan at the airport.

Nearby, relatives of passengers hugged each other and sobbed. One man

cried “my kids, my kids”.

The last major aviation accident in Pakistan was in July 2010, when a commercial airliner

operated by AirBlue with 152 people on board crashed into the hills overlooking Islamabad.

In 2006, a Pakistan

International Airlines aircraft crashed near the central city of Multan, killing 45 people.

State television reported

that all hospitals in Islamabad and the nearby city of Rawalpindi had been put on high alert after Friday’s crash.

At

the capital’s main hospital, rescue workers brought in remains of the passengers placed under white sheets soaked in

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, who was a passenger. Another brother-in-law died in the AirBlue

crash.

As the police struggled to keep order, trying to keep the distraught calm and television cameras away, Mohammad

Nasir hoped somehow that his brother’s body would be intact despite the horrific force of the crash.

He approached

other relatives of passengers and hospital workers. He kept asking “have you seen any whole bodies?”

The Boeing

Company said in a statement on its website that it “wishes 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 he had no way

of obtaining information on 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.”

(Additional reporting by Qasim Nauman, Rebecca Conway

and Rehan Sheikh in ISLAMABAD and Sahar Ahmed in KARACHI; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Alison Williams)