PIA plane crashes after hitting power cables; nobody survives

Islamabad, Jul 10 (UNI) A Lahore-bound Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) aircraft today crashed in empty fields near Multan city killing all 45 people on board--41 passengers and four crewmembers.

''According to initial information, we have received, there are no survivors in the crash,'' acting PIA chairman Farooq Shah told reporters after the accident.

Local media reports said two judges of Lahore High Court and two brigadiers of Pakistan army and vice Chancellor of Bahauddin Zikriya University in Multan were also amongst the passengers killed in the crash, caused by fire in the aircraft engines.

The Fokker-27 aircraft crashed two minutes after the take-off.

The aircraft hit power cables on the outskirts of Multan and burst into flames before plunging into the fields, reports said.

Local officials said that a few charred bodies were recovered from the wreckage of the plane, adding that the fire has been completely put out.

PIA inducted the ageing Fokkers in its fleet in 1960s. This was the fifth accident involving a Fokker plane since 1970. The last accident took place on February 20, 2003, when a Fokker aircraft of Pakistan Air Force (PAF) carrying Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Mushaf Ali Mir and 16 other air force officials had crashed near Kohat city.

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