A Pakistan International Airlines passenger plane has crashed en route to Islamabad, capital of the south Asian country.
Flight PK-116 was carrying 47 passengers, went missing near Abbottabad, a city in the country’s northeast of the country, according to Pakistani Today.
The flight departed from Chitral, the northernmost district of Pakistan, around 3:30pm Pakistani time and was expected to land at Islamabad’s Benazir Bhutto International Airport at around 4:40pm.
A PIA spokesperson earlier told media that flight PK-661 had disappeared from the air control radar.
ISPT, the media wing of the Pakistani military, said troops and helicopters had been dispatched to the crash site for rescue efforts.
“We regret to inform that PIA’s ATR-42 aircraft operating as PK-661, carrying around 40 persons lost its contact with control tower on its way from Chitral to Islamabad a short while ago,” Daniel Gilani, spokesperson of PIA, said in a statement.
“All resources are being mobilised to locate the aircraft. Media will be kept informed as situation develops.”
