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2 Americans among 152 killed in Pakistan jetliner crash
12:00 AM CDT on Thursday, July 29, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Two Americans were among the 152 passengers and crew members who died Wednesday when an Airbus A321 operated by a private Pakistani carrier crashed in heavy rain while attempting to land in the capital. It was the worst crash in Pakistani aviation history.
The Airblue plane was on a flight from the southern city of Karachi when it crashed about 10 a.m. local time. It carried 146 passengers and a crew of six.
The cause of the crash was not immediately clear, but Defense Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar said the government did not suspect terrorism.
The aircraft had made one pass at landing before airport controllers ordered it to abort. It remained unclear why the plane then flew so low and seemingly straight toward the cloud-covered hills.
The plane disintegrated on impact, scattering the wreckage in dense forest near the top of a hill. Rescuers reached the area on foot.
Raheel Ahmed, a spokesman for the airline, said the plane had no known technical issues, and the pilots sent no emergency signals.
"It is a great tragedy, and I confirm it with pain that there are no survivors," said Imtiaz Elahi, chairman of Islamabad's Capital Development Authority, which deals with emergencies in the city.
The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad confirmed the deaths of two Americans. Richard Snelsire, an embassy spokesman, said no further details would be released until relatives were informed.
The Pakistani government declared that today would be a day of mourning. As condolences poured in from the U.S., Britain and other nations, hundreds of people showed up at Islamabad's largest hospital and the airport seeking information on loved ones.
"What can the hospital do? It can't save anyone," said Surzamin Khan, whose 25-year-old son, Ansar, a captain in the army, had been on board the aircraft.
Among the dead were a newly married couple, en route to the hill resort of Murree outside Islamabad for their honeymoon. Also killed were six members of the "youth parliament," an initiative by a civil activist group to train young people to be politicians.
They were all in their late teens or early 20s.
Airbus said it would provide technical assistance to the crash investigators.
The aircraft was initially delivered in 2000 and was leased to Airblue in January 2006.
Airblue is a Karachi-based domestic airline that also flies to the United Arab Emirates, Oman and the United Kingdom. It began service in 2004.
Late Wednesday, Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira announced that about 115 bodies had been removed from the site.
Kaira said the "black box" flight data recorder had not been recovered.
McClatchy Newspapers, The Associated Press, The Washington Post
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