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Pakistan opens probe into deadly plane crash that killed 47

Pakistani volunteers move remains of plane crash victims to a mortuary at a hospital, in Abbottabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2016. Pakistan’s national carrier says one of its planes crashed shortly after takeoff from the northern city of Chitral with 48 people aboard. A spokesman for the Interior Ministry said there were no survivors. Rescuers told The Associated Press that the victims’ bodies were beyond recognition. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash) Pakistani volunteers move remains of plane crash victims to a mortuary at a hospital, in Abbottabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2016. Pakistan’s national carrier says one of its planes crashed shortly after takeoff from the northern city of Chitral with 48 people aboard. A spokesman for the Interior Ministry said there were no survivors. Rescuers told The Associated Press that the victims’ bodies were beyond recognition. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash)

By Associated Press December 8, 2016 1 min read

ABBOTABAD, Pakistan (AP) – A Pakistani aviation spokesman says authorities have opened a probe into the plane crash in the country’s northwest the previous day that killed all 47 passengers and crew.

Pervez George, the spokesman for Civil Aviation Authority, says experts are in the hillside village of Saddha Batolni in the district of Abbottabad, where the small twin-propeller aircraft crashed and burst into flames.

The military is using three helicopters to transport the remains of the victims from a hospital in the northwestern city of Abbottabad to the capital, Islamabad, on Thursday.

The plane was travelling from the scenic mountain resort of Chitral to Islamabad when it developed a fault and went down on Wednesday.

Pakistan International Airlines has confirmed that all 42 passengers and five crew members were killed in the crash.