by Donald Wood
Last updated: 9:30 AM ET, Wed December 7, 2016
On Wednesday, a Pakistan International Airlines plane carrying about 40 people en route to Islamabad has crashed in the mountainous northern region of the country.
Authorities believe there are unlikely to be any survivors.
According to Reuters, officials from Pakistan International Airlines said the flight lost contact with the control tower at around 4:30 p.m. local time during its flight from Chitral to Islamabad, and it crashed in the Havelian area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, about 77 miles north of Islamabad.
"All of the bodies are burned beyond recognition," Pakistani government official Taj Muhammad told Reuters. "The debris is scattered. The aircraft has crashed in a mountainous area, and before it hit the ground it was on fire."
While the Civil Aviation Authority said there were 47 people onboard the doomed flight, Pakistan International Airlines official Sohail Ahmed refuted the claim, saying there were 41 passengers and four crew members on the plane.
None of the passengers onboard have been confirmed dead, but it is being reported by airline officials that Pakistani pop star-turned-evangelical Muslim cleric Junaid Jamshed and his wife were among those who likely died when the plane crashed.
Unfortunately, plane crashes and technical issues are not uncommon in Pakistan due to substandard safety standards.
In 2010, a plane crashed near Islamabad, which killed all 152 people on board, and in 2012, another crash near Islamabad killed 127 people.
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