All 152 people aboard a Pakistani jet were killed Wednesday when the plane crashed into a ridge, making it the worst commercial aircraft diaster in the nation’s history, The Los Angeles Times reported.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-0728-pakistan-crash-20100728,0,7159422.story
Two Americans were among the victims of the accident, which happened as the jet was flying through heavy fog and torrential monsoon rains. There were 146 passengers and six crew members on the flight.
The Air Blue jet. an Airbus 321, was en route from Karachi to the Pakistani capital when it crashed at roughly 9:45 a.m. local time, in what The Time reported was the Margalla Hills area outside of Islamabad.
The plane’s black box was recovered, as had about 100 bodies as of Wednesday afternoon. The plane wreckage was in a ravine, making it hard for rescue crews to bring up the bodies.
According to The Times, the jet was at 2,600 feet and getting ready to land at Islamabad’s Benazir Bhutto International Airport when air traffic controllers told it to land on a different runway. The pilot did change direction, but then abruptly ascended 3,000 feet.
The pilot was in contact with air traffic control two minutes before the crash, and didn’t complain of any problems.