2010-07-28 21:23

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. [Agencies]

ISLAMABAD - A total of 152 people were confirmed to have been killed in a plane crash that occurred Wednesday morning in the Margalla hills in the Pakistani capital Islamabad, reported local media.

Among the killed, there were six crew members including two pilots and 146 passengers, said the report, adding that all the people aboard the plane have been killed in the disaster, including at least 20 women and seven children as well as two Americans.

Pakistani Defence Minister Chuadhry Ahmad Mukhtar reportedly denied finding the black box of the plane that crashed in the the Margalla hills in the Pakistani capital Islamabad Wednesday morning, killing all the 152 people aboard.

Among the killed, there were six crew members including two pilots and 146 passengers, said the report, adding that all the people aboard the plane have been killed in the disaster, including at least 20 women and seven children as well as two Americans.

No technical problems were found with the plane that crashed in the Pakistani capital Islamabad Wednesday morning before taking off, said a senior official of Airblue airliner, to which the crashed plane belonged.

No Chinese or foreigners have been found on the passenger name list released shortly after the plane crash, sources told Xinhua after talking on the telephone to the Airblue airliner which the crashed plane belonged to.

The tragedy took place at about 10:00 am local time when an airbus flight of a Pakistani private airliner Airblue, which reportedly carried 152 people including six crew members, crashed behind the mountains of Margalla Hills lying to the northeast of the capital.

The plane whose flight number is ED-202 took off from the Karachi International Airport at about 7:50 am Wednesday morning. It was on the way from Turkey to Islamabad via Karachi. It was reported that the plane lost the contact with the control tower of the Islamabad airport at about 9:43 am (local time) before the crash.

Shortly after the incident happened, large number of rescue teams have been dispatched to the crash site. A total of seven military helicopters have been mobilized to join the rescue work.

The Pakistani prime minister has ordered the military to conduct an investigation into the accident immediately following the tragedy.

Large crowds of relatives and friends planned to receive their loved ones taking the flight at the Islamabad airport were shocked upon hearing the news and many of them burst into tears.

A video grab shows the wreckage of a commercial Pakistani passenger plane in hills near the capital Islamabad, July 28, 2010. [Photo/Agencies]