[Nikitka]

Pakistan passenger plane crashes, 152 dead

By Kamran Haider
ISLAMABAD | Wed Jul 28, 2010 8:59am EDT

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A Pakistani passenger plane crashed in heavy rain near Islamabad on Wednesday, killing all 152 people on board, officials said, in the worst aviation accident in Pakistan. Two Americans were among the victims, a U.S. embassy spokesman told Reuters. He had no further details. "There are no survivors.

We believe all are dead. We are recovering the remains of the dead bodies from the wreckage," Imtiaz Elahi, chairman of the state-run Capital Development Authority, a city municipal body. The Airbus 321, belonging to private airline Airblue, crashed into a heavily wooded and hard-to-access hillside while flying from the southern port city of Karachi.

More than 90 bodies had been recovered so far, but the bad weather was making recovery efforts difficult. "We have suspended the air operation because of rain. It will take a long time to clear the area. There's no way to transport bodies from the site except via helicopters and even helicopters cannot land there," said Aamir Ali Ahmed, senior city government official, said.

Rescuers said they had to dig through the rubble with their bare hands, with fire and thick smoke hampering their work. The fire has since been extinguished, but access to the hillside remained limited to pedestrians and helicopters. "You find very few intact bodies. Basically, we are collecting bodies parts and putting them in bags," police officer Bin Yameen.

The plane lost contact with the control room of the Islamabad International Airport at 0443 GMT. It was carrying 146 passengers and six crew members. "The pilot was given directions to land either on runway I or II," Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters. "The plane was at 2,600 feet before landing but suddenly it went to 3,000, which was unexplained."

"If the visibility to the runway was so poor then it should have been diverted." Defense Minister Ahmed Mukhatar said the control tower at the airport had been sealed and a team would examine the "black box" data recorder and radio traffic between the plane and the tower. "If you look at the position of the wreckage it's clear that the plane went beyond safety margins.

It should have maneuvered within five miles of the runway but it did not happen," said Ejaz Haroon, managing director of state-run airline PIA. The crash site is on the Margalla Hills facing Islamabad, about 300 meters (yards) up the side of the hills. Smoke could be seen from some districts of the city after the crash.

While Wednesday's crash is the worst aviation accident on Pakistani soil, PIA has had two worse disasters. In 1979 and 1992, PIA jets crashed in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and Kathmandu, killing 156 and 167 people, respectively. Within Pakistan, the last major aviation accident was in 2006 when a PIA plane crashed near the central city of Multan killing 45 people.

NEW PLANE

The military said it had sent three helicopters to the site and troops had also been moved there. Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani surveyed rescue operations from the air and the government declared Thursday a day of mourning for the victims. Airblue began operations in 2004 with a fleet of Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft, according to its website www.airblue.com.

It flies primarily domestic routes as well as to the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Manchester in Britain. Spokesman Raheel Ahmed said this was the first crash for the airline and that an investigation was being launched. "It's too early to speculate," he said about the cause of the crash. "The civil aviation authorities will also be involved."

Airbus confirmed one of its planes was involved in the Airblue crash.
"We regret to confirm there has been an accident with an Airbus aircraft and we will provide more information when we have more confirmed data available," said Airbus spokesman Stefan Schaffrath. At Islamabad's international airport in the moments after the crash, passengers in the departure lounge scanned the television screens for news.

"I'm not surprised something like this has happened," said Ahmed Fairuz, a passenger awaiting departure. "The weather is just too bad for flying." Aviation industry sources in Europe said the aircraft was leased from International Lease Finance Corp, the leasing unit of U.S. insurance giant AIG Los Angeles-based ILFC was not available for comment and there was no immediate confirmation of these details.

The A321 is the largest of the A320 family of single-aisle jets produced by EADS subsidiary Airbus. This particular type of aircraft, which can seat up to 185 passengers, has been in service since 1994.

(Additional reporting by Augustine Anthony, Zeeshan Haider, Chris Allbritton and Shiza Shahid in ISLAMABAD; Sahar Ahmed in KARACHI; Tim Hepher in PARIS; Writing by Sanjeev Miglani; Editing by Miral Fahmy)

[Nikitka]

Rescue workers search the site of the crash of an Airblue passenger plane on the outskirts of Islamabad July 28, 2010.







Relatives of the victims of an Airblue passenger plane, which crashed on the outskirts of Islamabad,
mourn at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital in Islamabad July 28, 2010.

[Nikitka]

Smoke rises from the wreckage of an Airblue passenger plane which has crashed in the Margalla Hills
as a helicopter flies over it on the outskirts of Islamabad, July 28, 2010.

[Nikitka]

People stand near the smouldering wreckage of an Airblue passenger plane which crashed in the
Margalla Hills as a helicopter flies over it on the outskirts of Islamabad July 28, 2010.




Members of a rescue team make their way through a forested hill towards the wreckage of an
Airblue passenger plane which has crashed in the Margalla Hills on the outskirts of Islamabad, July 28, 2010.

[Nikitka]

Volunteers on a rescue operation observe as smoke rises from the wreckage of an Airblue passenger plane
which has crashed in the Margalla Hills on the outskirts of Islamabad, July 28, 2010.




Members of a rescue team make their way through a forested hill towards the wreckage of an
Airline passenger plane which has crashed in the Margalla Hills on the outskirts of Islamabad, July 28, 2010.




Rescue workers run past fire engines near the site of the wreckage of an Airline passenger plane
which has crashed in the Margalla Hills on the outskirts of Islamabad, July 28, 2010.

[Nikitka]

Relatives of the victims of an Air Blue passenger plane, which crashed on the outskirts of Islamabad,
gather at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital in Islamabad, July 28, 2010.







A man searches the passenger list of an Airblue passenger plane, which crashed on the outskirts of Islamabad,
for the names of relatives at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital, July 28, 2010.

[Nikitka]

A woman cries at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital as she mourns
a victim of an Air Blue passenger plane which crashed on the outskirts of Islamabad, July 28, 2010.




Rescue workers run with a stretcher near the site of the wreckage of an Airblue passenger plane
which has crashed in the Margalla Hills on the outskirts of Islamabad, July 28, 2010.




Soldiers stand guard as an ambulance makes its way up a road towards the wreckage of an
Airblue passenger plane which has crashed in the Margalla Hills on the outskirts of Islamabad, July 28, 2010.

[Nikitka]

Rescue workers carry a bag containing equipment near the site of the wreckage of an
Airblue passenger plane which has crashed in the Margalla Hills on the outskirts of Islamabad, July 28, 2010.




A man searches the passenger list of an Airblue passenger plane, which crashed on the outskirts of Islamabad,
for the names of relatives at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital, July 28, 2010.




Rescue workers carry a stretcher near the site of the wreckage of an Airblue passenger plane
which has crashed in the Margalla Hills on the outskirts of Islamabad, July 28, 2010.




Smoke rises from the wreckage of an Airblue passenger plane which has crashed in
The Margalla Hills on the outskirts of Islamabad, July 28, 2010.

[GuitarLoverBe]

Pakistan plane crash "black box" found

English.news.cn 2010-07-31 20:10:52

ISLAMABAD, July 31 (Xinhua) -- The black box of the crashed plane in Pakistan's capital Islamabad Wednesday morning has been found, said a senior official with the Pakatani Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on Saturday.

During an interview with a local TV channel, Junaid Amin, Director General of CAA said that the search team has found the black box on the crash site about noon time on Saturday and the black box was in a good condition.

According to Amin, the black box, a flight data recorder, will be sent to France or Germany for decoding and the final report may take months' time.

On Wednesday morning, an Airbus A321 flight of a local private airline company Airblue crashed in the Margalla Hills lying to the northeast part of the Pakistani capital city of Islamabad minutes before it was supposed to land at Islamabad Benazir Bhutto International Airport, killing all the 152 people aboard including four foreigners.

So far, it is not known what has caused the plane crash though many speculated that it could be due to bad weather as it was raining heavily when the planed crashed. The finding of the black box is vital for determining the real cause of the plane crash, which is reportedly the worst of its kind in the country's civil aviation history over the last 18 years.

[GuitarLoverBe]

Pakistani investigators search for evidence in the wreckage of a passenger plane at the Margalla Hills on the outskirts of Islamabad on July 31. Investigators searching the site of an airliner crash near Pakistan's capital in which 152 people died have found the plane's black box, a civil aviation official said Saturday. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)