Over 100 killed as Pakistan jet crashes

A rescue worker sorts through the wreckage of the Boeing 737 passenger
plane that crashed in the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan, on Friday.
Over 100 bodies recovered so far, rescue workers not hopeful of
finding survivors
A private aeroplane with 127 people on board crashed near the federal
capital on Friday evening just as it was approaching the Benazir
Bhutto International Airport in Rawalpindi for landing.
With over 100 bodies recovered five hours after the crash and given
the condition of the dead, rescue workers were not hopeful of finding
any survivors from among the 121 passengers and six crew members on
board.
The aircraft of Bhoja Airways, B4-213, was flying in from Karachi and
lost contact with the Air Traffic Control at 6.40 p.m., just five
minutes before its scheduled landing time. Eyewitnesses claimed that
they heard a blast and sawa massive ball of fire as theaircraft
crashed into a farmland near the Chaklala Airbase of the Pakistan Air
Force. Debris of the fallen aircraft was strewn over a kilometre area
along with mangled bodies of the passengers and their belongings. The
flight data recorder (black box) has been recovered. There was no
clarity on the cause though technical experts said it could have been
caused by the bad weatherconditions.
Thunder, lightning
Around the time of the crash, the twin cities of Islamabad and
Rawalpindi were hit by thunder, lightning and a sudden cloud cover
that prematurely darkened the skies. With television channels trying
to out-paceeach other with speculations galore on the possible cause
of the crash,Bhoja Airways appealed to the media not to speculate even
as the coverage — particularly the "flaunting" of body parts and
personal belongings — evoked considerable outrage.
As soon as news broke of the crash, hospitals in the twin cities were
put on alert to deal with the emergency. However, with people crowding
the crash site and a heavy downpour, mile-long traffic jams were
reported on all approach roads; making it difficult for ambulances to
reach the spot. Residents of the area could be seen bringing bedsheets
from their homes tocover the bodies as the arrival of ambulances was
delayed. The Jama'at-ud-Dawa tweeted that they had set up a camp at
the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad and also sent
ambulances to the crash site.
According to Geo News, this Boeing 737 was over 27 years old and was
of a make that is no longer being used by the U.S., Europe and Gulf
countries.

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