45 feared dead in Pakistan plane crash

A Pakistan International Airlines passenger plane crashed soon after take-off on a domestic flight Monday in eastern Pakistan, and many of the 45 people on board were feared dead.

An Associated Press reporter could see at least 10 dead or injured people at the scene of the crash, about two miles from the airport in the eastern city of Multan. The wreckage of the plane was burning.

An airline security official at the scene, Mohammed Iqbal, said 41 passengers and four crew were aboard the Fokker aircraft, and that many were feared dead.

“The plane lost contact with the control tower about two minutes after take-off. We don’t know what happened to it,” PIA engineer Mansoor Rahi said.

The plane had taken off on a flight from Multan to Lahore, the capital of eastern Punjab province. It went down in a wheat field near a mango orchard, where trees were burning from the impact of the crash and a perimeter wall was damaged.