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A plane carrying about 40 people crashed on the slope of a mountain in northern Pakistan on Wednesday, with witnesses at the site of the flaming wreckage saying there were unlikely to be any survivors.
Reuters reported that the military said 36 bodies had been recovered and rescue efforts involved about 500 soldiers, doctors and paramedics.
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) said its plane lost contact with the control tower en route to the capital, Islamabad, from the northern region of Chitral.
The airline said the plane crashed at 1642 local time (1142 GMT) in the Havelian area of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, about 125 km (77 miles) north of Islamabad. The region is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Pakistan.
“All of the bodies are burned beyond recognition. The debris is scattered,” Taj Muhammad Khan, a government official based in Havelian, told Reuters.
Khan, who was at the crash site, said witnesses told him “the aircraft has crashed in a mountainous area, and before it hit the ground it was on fire”.
Images shown on Pakistani TV channels showed a trail of wreckage engulfed in flames on a mountain slope.
Irfan Elahi, the government’s Aviation Secretary, told media the plane suffered engine problems but it was too early to determine the cause of the accident.
PIA said the plane was carrying 48 passengers, including five crew members and a ground engineer. But Sohail Ahmed, a PIA official in Chitral, said there were 41 people on board, while the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) put the number at 47.
A local trader at the site of the crash said the fire was still burning nearly two hours after the crash.
“They are removing body parts,” Nasim Gohar told Geo TV.
The military said it had sent in troops and helicopters.
A PIA spokesman said the dual turboprop engine plane lost contact with the CAA at about 4.30 p.m.
“PIA is doing everything possible to help the families of passengers and crew members,” the airline said in a statement.
