08 December,2016 07:52 AM IST | | Agencies
All 48 people on board a PIA plane, including famous pop singer-turned-Islamic preacher Junaid Jamshed and three foreigners, were killed yesterday as the aircraft crashed and burst into flames in a hilly area near Pakistan’s Abbottabad after facing engine problems
PESHAWAR/ISLAMABAD: All 48 people on board a PIA plane, including famous pop singer-turned-Islamic preacher Junaid Jamshed and three foreigners, were killed yesterday as the aircraft crashed and burst into flames in a hilly area near Pakistan's Abbottabad after facing engine problems.
The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane PK-661 crashed in Saddha Batolni village near Pakistan Ordinance Factory, Havelian, 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. PIA spokesman Daniyal Gilani confirmed that the pilot of the ill-fated plane had given a âmayday' distress call to traffic control before it went off the radar and crashed. There were 42 passengers, five crew members and one ground engineer on board.
Aviation secretary Irfan Ilahi said, "It is premature to say anything at the moment, but we know that the aircraft had engine problems." Army troops and helicopters have been mobilised to the site of the crash, Inter-Services Public Relations said.
