Pakistan: A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) passenger aircraft crashed in fields on the outskirts of the central city of Multan yesterday, killing all 45 people on board, the local police chief said.
"Everyone is dead," police chief Iftikhar Babar said as he stood at the spot where the fuel-laden aircraft exploded in flames after hitting the wall of a mango orchard.
Flight PK 688, en route for Islamabad via Lahore, was carrying 41 passengers and four crew.
The Fokker F-27 turboprop, built in 1964, crashed around 1.5km (one mile) from the airport, just two minutes after take-off, Farooq Shah, PIA deputy managing director told a news conference in Karachi.
Rescue workers from privately run relief foundation Edhi, the Civil Aviation Authority and troops helped recover the passengers' remains and sift wreckage for clues to the cause of the crash.
"There are few bodies which are identifiable," said Shahid Pervez, a civil defence official, as rescue workers loaded charred corpses into ambulances.
Police chief Babar quoted some witnesses as saying they saw flames coming from the aircraft shortly after it took off, and it appeared to be tilting to the right.
"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. He said the aircraft burst into flames after impact.
The crash occurred near a state primary school, but there were no casualties other than those on board, officials said.
Bereaved women wailed among crowds gathered outside Nishtar medical hospital's morgue to search for their kin. Among them was Saima Chughtai, a sister of the first officer, Abrar Chughtai.
"He was a very witty person. I never thought this," the 19-year-old girl said sobbing.
Senior ranking members of the military and judiciary were among the passengers, according to officials in Multan.
"We can't say now why the plane crashed. The captain did not make any contact with [the control] tower," Mr Shah said.