Thaindian News

July 28 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Airbus 321, which was owned by the private airline known as Airblue, has crashed earlier today (Wednesday) in a heavily wooded area outside Islamabad in the torrential rains along a hillside, making recovery efforts almost impossible. All 152 passengers on board the plane are believed dead.

Imtiaz Elahi, who is the chairman of the state-run Capital Development Authority, told reporters, “There are no survivors. We believe all are dead. We are recovering the remains of the dead bodies from the wreckage,” according to a report from ‘Reuters’.

Over 90 bodies have been taken from the hillside, but the weather and the location has slowed the process of recovery down tremendously. Aamir Ali Ahmed, a city senior government official explained, “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.”

The people who were on the recovery teams were digging through the rubble of the crashed plane with their bare hands, and attempting to breath in the thick smoke from the fires. Conditions seemed horrible, and the images unimaginable. Police officer Bin Yameen stated, “You find very few intact bodies. Basically, we are collecting bodies parts and putting them in bags.”

The control room of the Islamabad International Airport was said to have lost contact with Airbus 321 at 0443 GMT with 146 passengers, including two Americans, and 6 crew members on board. The pilot was then told to land on wither runway one or two, but the plane soared from 2600 feet to 3000 feet with no explanation. It was stated that the landing should have been diverted if the visibility was poor. An investigation is being launched into the cause of the crash.