Crash near Islamabad airport

[scottish]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17788698

A plane carrying up to 127 people has crashed in a residential area near Islamabad international airport.

Aviation officials said the Bhoja Air jet, flight BHO-213, was flying from Karachi to Islamabad when it crashed in bad weather near Chaklala, Rawalpindi.

Emergency teams were at the crash site, reported to be near Baria Town residential complex.

There have been no reports of any survivors and no comment from the airline.

Reports suggest the plane, believed to be a Boeing 737 carrying 118 passengers and nine crew, was making its final approach to the airport when the crash happened.

'Fire erupted'
Saifur Rehman, from a police rescue team, said it came down in Hussain Abad village, two miles from the main Islamabad highway.

He told Geo TV: "Fire erupted after the crash. The wreckage is on fire, the plane is completely destroyed.


"We have come with teams of firefighters and searchlights and more rescuers are coming."

The jet left Karachi at around 17:00 local time (12:00 GMT) and was due to arrive at 18:50 (13:50 GMT).

Defence minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhar said it burst into flames before it came down a few miles from the airport.

There were reports of severe rainstorms in the area at the time.

Bhoja Air is a small new commercial airline which was started about 10 years ago but closed because of financial difficulties. It recently re-opened.

No reports of survivors and was carrying 118 passengers/9 crew

[xxMATTGxx]

Dam, not good news at all. Seems like everyone has died as well which is a shame - May they R.I.P - Doesn't look like it will be a tough job finding the black boxes looking at the crash site so hope they can find out the reason why it happened in the first place soon. But looking at the news report, bad weather was involved as well

[Lee]

Heard this on the news, RIP. Shame, I also heard about bad weather influencing the crash