Rescue underway as plane crashes in Islamabad, Pakistan

A whole battalion of troops in addition to seven military helicopters are involved in the rescue work.

The crash site is deep in the mountains and rescue workers had to walk over an hour to reach the site.

So far 40 survivors have been found on the crash site and all the survivors have been given first-aid treatment on the spot and are being shifted to different hospitals in Islamabad. All the hospitals in the capital city have declared emergency following the plane crash.

About 20 dead bodies including the dead body of the pilot have been recovered from the crash site, said sources on the site, adding some of the bodies were still on fire when recovered. One of the dead bodies was reportedly identified as Barak or Barkat. No further details about the killed and survivors.

The tragedy took place at about 10:00 a.m. local time when an airbus 320 of a Pakistani private airliner Airblue, which reportedly carried 152 people including six crew members, crashed behind the mountains of Margalla Hills lying to the northeast of the capital.

Among the people aboard the plane there were 20 women and five children, said the Airblue airliner. The plane whose flight number is ED-202 took off from the Karachi International Airport at about 7:50 a.m. local time this morning.

It was on the way from Turkey to Islamabad via Karachi. It was reported that the plane lost the contact with the control tower of the Islamabad airport at about 9:43 a.m. local time before the crash, azinform cites Xinhua. See www.xinhuanet.com for full version.