Plane crashes in central Pakistan, 45 dead
MULTAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - A Pakistan International Airlines' Fokker passenger plane crashed on Monday killing all 45 people on board, the police chief in the central city of Multan said.
"Everyone is dead. I am standing at the site," police chief Iftikhar Babar told Reuters.
Flight PK 688, en route for Lahore before flying on to Islamabad, crashed 10 minutes after take-off from Multan airport. It was carrying 41 passengers and four crew, said Hasan Jaferry, a PIA spokesman.
"Bodies are badly charred. The debris has caught fire," a Reuters eyewitness said.
He said rescue workers from the privately run relief foundation Edhi, the Civil Aviation Authority and the army were taking part in the rescue operation.
The plane crashed near a government primary school, around three km (two miles) from the airport.
"I saw the plane diving downwards. It hit electricity wires and then crashed after hitting a wall of an orchard," said Mohammad Akram, a farmer who was working in his fields.
"All of a sudden it caught fire."
MULTAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - A Pakistan International Airlines' Fokker passenger plane crashed on Monday killing all 45 people on board, the police chief in the central city of Multan said.
"Everyone is dead. I am standing at the site," police chief Iftikhar Babar told Reuters.
Flight PK 688, en route for Lahore before flying on to Islamabad, crashed 10 minutes after take-off from Multan airport. It was carrying 41 passengers and four crew, said Hasan Jaferry, a PIA spokesman.
"Bodies are badly charred. The debris has caught fire," a Reuters eyewitness said.
He said rescue workers from the privately run relief foundation Edhi, the Civil Aviation Authority and the army were taking part in the rescue operation.
The plane crashed near a government primary school, around three km (two miles) from the airport.
"I saw the plane diving downwards. It hit electricity wires and then crashed after hitting a wall of an orchard," said Mohammad Akram, a farmer who was working in his fields.
"All of a sudden it caught fire."