Pakistan crash pilot made mayday call after engine problem

islamabad - A Pakistani passenger plane crashed on Wednesday during a domestic flight from the mountainous northern city of Chitral to Islamabad, an airline spokesman said.

The pilot of the ill-fated Pakistan International Airlines plane that crashed into a mountain on Wednesday killing everyone on board reportedly lost control of one of the engines, the airline said.

Azam Sehgal, PIA's chairman, told reporters that the pilot for flight PK661 told the control tower at 4:09 p.m. local time that an engine had developed a technical fault and moments later made a "mayday call" shortly before the plane disappeared, Dawn reported.

"We were confident that the plane could land with one working engine," he said, adding: "I think that there was no technical error or human error... obviously there will be a proper investigation."

Emergency was declared at the airport soon after receiving the phone call.

The call about the plane crash was made by a resident of Batolni village who had witnessed the tragedy, the official said.

He called the Benazir Bhutto International Airport at around 4:35 p.m. and was asked to contact the airport manager as he was the relevant person, he said.

Pakistan mourns air crash victims

Pakistan on Thursday mourned the 47 victims of its deadliest plane crash in four years, among them a famed-rockstar, two infants and three foreigners, as officials sought to pinpoint the cause of the disaster.

Outpourings of grief erupted online soon after flight PK661 smashed into the side of a mountain near the town of Havelian, in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, late on Wednesday afternoon, after taking off from the mountain resort of Chitral.

Much of the anguish focused on Junaid Jamshed, the vocalist of Vital Signs, one of Pakistan's first and most successful rock and pop bands of the 1990s, who abandoned his musical career in 2001 to become a travelling evangelist with the Tableeghi Jamaat group.

Investigators seek answers

Engine trouble was initially believed responsible, but many questions remain, stirring new worries about the safety record of money-losing state carrier Pakistani International Airlines.

The ATR-42 aircraft involved in the crash had undergone regular maintenance, including an "A-check" certification in October, airline chairman Muhammad Azam Saigol said.

"I want to make it clear that it was a perfectly sound aircraft," Saigol said, ruling out technical or human error.

The aircraft appeared to have suffered a failure in one of its two turboprop engines just before the crash, he said, but this would have to be confirmed by an investigation.

"I think there was no technical error or human error," he told a news conference late on Wednesday. "Obviously there will be a proper investigation."

Foreigners among the dead

Others urged more attention for the other 46 victims.

Two infants, three foreigners and five crew were among the passengers, the flight manifest showed.

The foreigners included two Austrians and a Chinese man, the airline said. Foreign tourists increasingly flock to Chitral every year, besides thousands of domestic visitors, as Pakistan emerges from years of violence caused by a Taliban insurgency.

A member of Chitral's traditional royal family, his wife and family were among the dead, besides a Chitral administration official, Osama Ahmad Warraich, whose wife and infant daughter also died, the Dawn newspaper said on Thursday.

Safety concerns

The aircraft, made by French company ATR in 2007, had racked up 18,739 flight hours since joining PIA's fleet that year.

Its captain, Saleh Janjua, had logged more than 12,000 flight hours over his career, the airline said.

Concerns are growing over air safety in Pakistan as media in recent years have reported near-misses following overshot runways, engines catching fire and landing gear deployment failures.

In the worst such disaster, in 2010, all 152 people on board were killed when a passenger plane operated by airline Air Blue crashed in heavy rain near Islamabad.

As it happened:

8:30 pm

42 bodies have reportedly been recovered as rescue efforts continue, reports GeoTV quoting a spokesperson for the Commissioner's office in Hazara Division.

500 army personnel are reportedly taking part in the operation.

7:25 pm

According to the Inter-Services Public Relations, 36 bodies have been recovered from the plane's wreckage, reports GeoTV.

"Rescue effort continues. 36 bodies recovered so far," the ISPR said in a statement.

6.30 pm

At least 21 bodies have so far been recovered from the site of the plane crash, AFP reported, citing the Pakistani military.

"Rescue effort continues. 21 bodies recovered so far," the military, which is part of rescue efforts, said in a statement.

There was "no chance" any of the 47 people on board the Pakistan International Airlines flight from northern Chitral to Islamabad survived, Sardar Aurangzeb Nalota, a local legislator, told AFP.

6:00 pm

Visuals from the crash site:

4:45pm

PIA spokesperson Daniyal Gilani earlier said the aircraft was missing and efforts to locate it were on.

"We regret to inform that PIA's ATR-42 aircraft operating as PK-661, carrying around 40 persons, lost its contact with the control tower on its way from Chitral to Islamabad," Gilani said.

"All resources are being mobilised to locate the aircraft."

4:30 pm

• Pakistan