152 die in Pakistani airliner crash; 2 from U.S.
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Pakistani rescue workers search for survivors amid the wreckage of a crashed jetliner on Wednesday on the outskirts of Islamabad.
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ISLAMABAD -- A Pakistani passenger plane crashed in fog and intense rain in the Himalayan foothills near this capital city Wednesday morning, killing all 152 people on board in the country's deadliest domestic plane crash, according to civil aviation and airline officials.
Rescue helicopters fought against thick smoke and flames as they tried to find survivors amid the wreckage, at least an hour's drive into the high ground above Islamabad. But hours after the crash, Pakistani officials said none of the 146 passengers or six crew members had survived.
Grief-stricken relatives had gathered at Islamabad's airport, hoping for word on survivors. Six members of the Youth Parliament of Pakistan had been aboard.
President Barack Obama issued a statement confirming that two Americans had been on the flight and expressing condolences to the families and friends of all who died, saying, "Our thoughts and prayers go out to all of those touched by this horrible accident."
The Pakistani government declared that today would be a national day of mourning.
Dawn Television reported that 100 bodies, many badly burned or mutilated, had been recovered by the afternoon.
Officials said cockpit recorders and the bodies of the pilots had been found. The plane, a 10-year-old Airbus A321 operated by a relatively new Pakistani airline, Airblue, was flying to Islamabad from Karachi.
In a country where terrorist activity has been rising -- with repeated bombings attributed to Pakistani militants formerly focused solely on Kashmir or Afghanistan -- officials said they had not ruled out the possibility of an attack. But the more immediate focus was the weather.
Hashim Raza Garvaizi, a captain for Pakistan International Airlines, told GEO television that another flight had been diverted from the Islamabad airport because of rain and fog just 30 minutes before the Airblue flight, ED 202, crashed.
First Published July 29, 2010 12:00 am
