Pakistan Mourns Air Crash Victims

29 July 2010

People mourn deaths of their family members at a local hospital in Islamabad, Pakistan, 28 Jul 2010

Pakistani authorities say the heavy monsoon rains also are hampering efforts to recover the remains of victims in the Margalla hills surrounding Islamabad, where Wednesday's plane crash occurred.

Officials suspect thick fog and rainy weather are the most likely reasons for the worst aviation accident in Pakistan.

National Disaster Management Authority head Nadeem Ahmed said that rescue teams have recovered most of the bodies, while technical experts are still searching for the Flight Data Recorder - commonly known as the "black box" - to look into the cause of the deadly crash.

"We are still continuing with the combing and search operation in the Margalla hills," said Ahmed. "We have teams from the army, navy as well as the civil aviation authority. The civil aviation authority is, of course, looking for flight data recorder and collecting the other evidence which will help them find out what was the cause of the accident."

The control tower at the Islamabad airport has been sealed off and investigators are examining radio traffic between the plane and the tower to determine causes of the crash.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik told a news conference in Islamabad about 70 bodies have been identified and handed over to their relatives, while experts are conducting DNA tests to identify remains of other victims.