A private airling boarding 127 people from Karachi destined to Islamabad has crashed near Islamabad’s Banazir International Airport. According to initial information plane has crashed due to bad weather in the city. The crash happened at an area called Lui Bhair of Rawalpindi.
Bhoja Air is a private airline from Pakistan, who just started its operation recently after having been suspended for several years.
People residing close to the Bahria Town residential complex located near the Islamabad airport say emergency vehicles can be seen in the area.
A violent rain and wind storm was lashing parts of the capital around the same time as the crash, said an aviation official,?adding lightening might have caused the plane to catch fire.
According to AFP ?Saifur Rehman, an official from the police rescue team said the plane came down in Hussain Abad village, about three kilometres (two miles) from the main Islamabad highway.
?Fire erupted after the crash. The wreckage is on fire, the plane is completely destroyed. We have come with teams of firefighters and searchlights and more rescuers are coming,? Rehman told a private television channel.
An airport source said that flight number BHO-213 of Bhoja Airline was due to land at Islamabad airport at 6:50 pm (1350 GMT) but lost contact with the control tower at 6:40 pm and crashed shortly afterwards before reaching the runway.
Plane crashes are relatively rare in Pakistan, where inter-city travel is most efficient by air.