Plane crashes after take-off

2006-07-10 10:24

Multan - A Pakistan International Airlines passenger plane crashed soon after take-off on a domestic flight on Monday in eastern Pakistan, and many of the 45 people on board were feared dead, an airline official said.

An Associated Press reporter could see at least 10 dead or injured people at the scene of the crash, about three kilometres from the airport in the eastern city of Multan. The wreckage of the plane was burning.

An airline security official at the scene, Mohammed Iqbal, said 41 passengers and four crew were aboard the Fokker aircraft, and that many were feared dead.

"The plane lost contact with the control tower about two minutes after take-off. We don't know what happened to it," PIA engineer Mansoor A Rahi said.

'Huge explosion'

The plane had taken off on a flight from Multan to Lahore, the capital of eastern Punjab province. It went down in a wheat field near a mango orchard, where trees were burning from the impact of the crash and a perimeter wall was damaged.

Mohammed Nadeem, a jeweller, who lives near the crash site, said the plane was rotating sideways in the air before it hit the ground and went up in flames.

"There was a huge explosion after the plane hit the ground," he said.

Another witness said the plane hit the ground with a huge thud and its wreckage caught fire and caused a fire at a nearby power line.

"The plane begin to come down abruptly. Then it hit the ground. Then there were flames and dust," said Arshad Gujjar, 35, who had been cutting a tree in a nearby orchard.

- AP