Karachi: A small plane with at least 21 people on board chartered to international oil company ENI crashed after taking off from Pakistan's Karachi airport on Friday, killing all on board, an aviation official said.
Pervez George, a spokesman for Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority, said the aircraft crashed near a military ordnance depot at Karachi's Jinnah International Airport due to a technical fault soon after taking off.
He added it was en route to an oil field near Bhit Shah in Sindh province, some 190 km (118 miles) northeast of Karachi.
"When it took off, just after one minute, the pilot contacted the control tower saying that there was a fault in one of the engines. He was asked to return, but as it was turning back, it crashed," George told Reuters.
He said there were 19 passengers and two crew on board. At least 12 bodies have been recovered so far. Aviation officials said there was at least one foreigner on board.
"The plane has been destroyed," said Lt. Colonel Noor Agha, an army official supervising recovery operations. "The dead bodies are burned beyond recognition. It could not be recognised whether they are men or women. We don't know nationalities."
Civil aviation officials said the small aircraft was chartered by oil company ENI, which is based in Italy. No one from the company was responding to phone calls and the nationalities of those killed were not immediately available.
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