RESCUE teams have retrieved all 48 bodies from the wreckage of a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane, which crashed in the country’s northern mountainous area Wednesday, officials said Thursday.

    Azam Saigol, chairman of the PIA airline, said the plane was carrying 48 people, including 42 passengers, five crew members and one ground engineer.

    According to the PIA’s website, two Austrians and one Chinese national were on board the ill-fated plane. The Chinese Embassy has confirmed that a Chinese man was killed, who worked for an Austrian company operating in Pakistan.

    PIA Chairman Saigol said each passenger had an insurance of 5 million rupees (about US$47,000) while the airline will bear the expenses of coffin and funeral, and give a subsidy of half a million rupees.

    He said flight PK-661 took off from the country’s north Chitral airport for Islamabad at 3:40 p.m. local time.

    “At 4:14 p.m. we received a call from the pilot at Islamabad airport control tower informing us that he lost control over one of the two engines of the plane. We told him to land at the runway once his vision is clear, but at 4:16 p.m. we lost contact with him,” the chairman said.

    The plane was some 35 miles (56 kilometers) away from Islamabad airport when the pilot contacted the control room.

    Saigol said at about 4:30 p.m. they received the information that local people in the northern Havelian town saw the plane crashing into the hills.

    He ruled out the reports of any human error and said that things will be clearer when investigation teams give their report after completing the probe.

    Saigol said the plane’s black box had been found and will be sent to its manufacturing company in France for decoding.

    (Xinhua)