No Survivors in Bhoja Inaugural Karachi to Islamabad Flight Disaster

Update: The investigation team formed to probe into Friday’s plane crash on Monday (April 23) visited the site and collected evidence.

What: Bhoja Air Boeing 737-200 en route from Karachi to Islamabad
Where: Islamabad
When: Apr 20th 2012
Who: 121 passengers and 6 crew
Why: The plane (reported as #AP-BKC a 27 year old Boeing) took off from Karachi, impacted the ground 3-6 miles from Islamabad while on approach and burst into flames in a rural location(Hussain Abad village) near Chaklala Air Base. No survivors were found, and ten houses on the ground were affected. The plane lost contact with the control tower minutes before landing. There was no distress call. There are conflicting reports that the plane was on fire and was not on fire before it impacted the ground. Some reports say the plane was struck by lightning. There was a thunderstorm at the time of the accident. The fire/fireball after the crash does not appear to have engulfed the entire debris area, according to photos of the scene.

Debris from the crash is said to cover a large muddy area. The area has not been cordoned off; reporters and others are swarming over the crash site.

This is reported to be the first Bhorja flight on this route. The jet left at 17:00 and was due to arrive at 18:50.

The flight data recorder has been recovered along with 110 bodies (so far.)

The number of people listed as passengers varies from 127 to 130 aboard.

The METAR
OPRN 201400Z 23020KT 3000 TSRA FEW025CB SCT030 BKN100 20/16 Q1011.0/29.85
OPRN 201300Z 23020KT 4000 TS FEW025CB SCT030 BKN100 25/15 Q1009.3/29.80

Trans:
METAR for Benazir Bhutto International Airport, issued on the 20th of the month at 13:00 Zulu Time. Wind from 230° at 20 knots (37 km/h). Visibility 4,000 metres (13,000 ft), thunderstorms in area. Clouds few at 2,500 feet (760 m), cumulonimbus clouds present. Broken clouds at 10,000 feet (3,000 m). Temperature 25°C, dewpoint 15°C. Altimeter setting 1009.3 hPA / 29.80 inHg