Pak plane crash: Victims' relatives demand answers

Distraught relatives of the ill-fated Pakistani airliner demanded answers from the authorities as even after 18 hours of the crash of the Bhoja Air's 737-200 many of them were yet to trace their loved ones.

Weeping next of kin of the crash victims were doing the rounds from the wheat fields near the Benazir Bhutto International Airport where the bodies remained scattered to the capital's main hospital where coffins lined hallway.

The relatives' task was compounded as body parts and severed limbs of passengers on board the ill-fated airliner which crashed near here were scattered over a one kilometre radius, eyewitnesses said as heavy rain hampered salvage operations.

All the 127 people on board the airliner perished when ageing Boeing from Karachi crashed and burst into flames as it came in to land at Islamabad airport in bad weather on Friday evening.

The crash of the Bhoja Air's ageing Boeing 737-200 shortly after being cleared to land at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport was the second mishap involving an aircraft near the Pakistani capital in bad weather in less than two years.

Even after 18 hours, the air around the crash site remained heavy with the smell of jet fuel and charred human flesh. The bodies, most of them burnt or mutilated beyond recognition, were scattered over a one kilometre radius.

Eyewitnesses said they saw a fireball heading downwards and hitting the ground with a bang.

Some bigger parts of the airliner got entangled with high voltage power lines, plunging the area into darkness and impeding the search operation.

"There were terrible scenes when we moved into the houses to recover bodies…I can't explain in words what I have seen," a rescue official told the Express Tribune.