On Friday, an aviation official said that a small plane with at least twenty-one people aboard chartered to ENI, an international oil company based in Italy, crashed after taking off from the Karachi airport, killing all aboard.
Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority’s spokesman, Pervez George said the aircraft crashed near a military ordnance depot at Jinnah International Airport of Karachi because of a technical fault shortly after lifting off.
He added it was on the way to an oil field near Bhit Shah in Sindh province, some 190 kilometer northeast of Karachi.
Pervez George said: “When it took off, just after one minute, the pilot contacted the control tower saying that there was a fault in one of the engines. He was asked to return, but as it was turning back, it crashed”.
He said there were nineteen passengers and 2 crew aboard. At least twelve bodies have been found so far. Aviation officials said there was at least 1 foreigner aboard.
An army official supervising rescue operations, Lt. Colonel Noor Agha said, “The plane has been destroyed,”
“The dead bodies are burned beyond recognition. It could not be recognised whether they are men or women. We don’t know nationalities.”
No one from ENI was replying to phone calls and the nationalities of those killed were not instantly available.