Pakistan plane with 48 on board crashes near Abbottabad Wednesday Dec 07,2016

A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane crashed near the garrison town of Abbottabad on Wednesday Dec 07,2016 with 48 people on board, apparently killing all of them, officials said.

Well-known singer-turned-preacher Junaid Jamshed, his wife, members of his family and four foreigners were among the passengers of the ill-fated flight PK661, PIA officials and media reports said.

The ATR-42 twin-engine turboprop aircraft was flying from Chitral in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province to the capital Islamabad when it crashed at a spot 75 km from Islamabad, police officials said.

PIA spokesman Danyal Gilani said the plane lost contact with ground control after 4.30 pm local time and then disappeared from radars. “A PIA aircraft ATR-42 crashed near Havelian at 1642 hours, 42 passengers, five crew members and one ground engineer were on board,” he said.

Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Pervez George said rescue teams had been dispatched to the site. “I don’t think there is any chance of finding any survivors,” he told