PIA Pakistan International Airways flight crashes in northern area's


A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight with 48 people on board has crashed in the north of the country.
Flight PK-661 "lost contact with the control tower on its way from Chitral to Islamabad", the airline said.
The army has recovered at least 26 bodies from the crash site in the Havelian area, about 70km (43 miles) north of Islamabad, a military statement said.
The national carrier has been accused of safety failures in the past.
There were 42 passengers, five crew members and one ground engineer on board, the airline confirmed.
Local officials say they do not expect there to be any survivors from the crash.
The plane took off from Chitral at about 10:00GMT (15:00 local time), losing contact 90 minutes later, shortly before it was due to arrive at its destination.
A famous former pop singer turned Islamic preacher, Junaid Jamshed, and his wife were on the flight's passenger list and multiple sources have confirmed to local media that he was on board.
Some of Jamshed's nearly half a million Twitter followers have been paying tribute to the former Vital Signs singer, whose 1987 hit Dil Dil Pakistan has been described as the country's "unofficial national anthem":


Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has expressed his "deep grief and sorrow" over the crash.
Pakistani TV images showed a trail of wreckage engulfed in flames on a mountain slope.
The army has dispatched troops and helicopters to the location, national broadcaster Radio Pakistan reports.
The last major crash involving a PIA aircraft, in 2006, left 44 people dead.

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