Mallagar Hills Plane Crash: No Survivors Yet

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ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (GaeaTimes.com) — Quite a few number of people were surprised on seeing a plane flying low over a no-flying zone near Islamabad earlier this morning. Little did they knew that the Airbus 320 with flight number ED-202 containing 146 passengers and 6 crew members was going to crash into Margalla hills a few minutes later.

According to the sources, the plane was an Airblue flight 202 traveling from Turkey to Islamabad (via Karachi). The plane took off from Karachi at 07.50 am (03.50 GMT) and was supposed to reach Islamabad by 9.30 am (local time).

A huge rescue operation has been launched and army special troops are called in for support. Officials have declared the recovery of 20 bodies without the sign of any survivors. Local TV footage showed twisted metal wreckage hanging from trees and scattered across the ground. The crash site is densely wooded and not accessible by road. Heavy rains and dense fog is hampering the rescue operations.

Though the reason behind this crash is unconfirmed, Raheel Ahmed, a spokesman for the airline said over telephone from Karachi,

I cannot say why it crashed, this airline is only six years old. So our aircraft are relatively new.

A large number of relatives are waiting outside the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), while many others have gathered at Benazir Bhutto International Airport for the news of their loved ones. As the officials are not sure about the number of survivors from the plane crash, it seems tears and prayers are their only hope in this time of desperation.