18 killed in Pak army plane crash

Eighteen people were killed when a small military plane crashed into a  residential area in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi early yesterday,  officials said.

The plane crashed into a poor village near an  upscale neighbourhood in the garrison city that is home to the army’s  headquarters, creating a fireball that lit up the night sky and  terrified residents.

“We have taken 18 dead bodies to hospital...  that included 13 civilians and five crew members,” said local rescue  spokesman Farooq Butt, adding that a further 12 people had been injured  in the accident near the capital Islamabad.

“All the bodies are badly burned, so DNA tests are required for identification,” he added.

One resident told AFP that the crash happened around 2:00am.

“I  woke to the sound of a huge explosion. I stepped out of my house and  saw huge flames and we rushed to the site,” said Mohammad Sadiq.

“People  were screaming. We tried to help them but the flames were too high and  the fire too intense,” he said, adding he believed seven members of one  family were among the dead.

Another resident Ghulam Khan said he  heard the plane as it buzzed over his house, adding the aircraft  appeared to be on fire before it crashed.

“The sound was so scary,” he added.

The  military’s information wing said the plane was on a routine training  mission when the accident occurred, adding that rescue officials had  extinguished the fire caused by the crash and moved the injured to a  local hospital.

An AFP reporter at the scene said smoke was still  rising from the wreckage and destroyed homes, while pieces of the plane  were visible on a nearby roof.

Hours after the crash rescue  workers could be seen combing through the smouldering site, gathering  debris and inspecting the scene while ambulances swarmed the area.

Military officials had also cordoned off the crash site while a crowd of residents stood nearby, some of them sobbing.

Prime  Minister Imran Khan offered his condolences to the affected families  and wished a “quick recovery for the injured”, according to a tweet by  the Pakistani government.

Pakistan has a chequered aviation safety record, with frequent plane and helicopter crashes over the years.

In  2016, a Pakistan International Airlines plane burst into flames after  one of its two turboprop engines failed while travelling from remote  northern Pakistan to Islamabad, killing more than 40 people.

The  deadliest air disaster on Pakistani soil was in 2010, when an Airbus 321  operated by private airline Airblue and flying from Karachi crashed  into the hills outside Islamabad while coming in to land, killing all  152 on board.