RAWALPINDI – An airliner with 127 people on board crashed in Rawalpindi suburbs amid bad weather as it came in to land in Islamabad on Friday, scattering wreckage and leaving no sign of survivors.The ill-fated Boeing 737 of Bhoja Air came down to the ground more than 5 miles from the intended destination – Benazir International Airport – in less than two hours after it took off from Karachi.Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Director General Captain Nadeem Yousufzai confirmed to The Nation there were 122 passengers and five crew members onboard the plane. A newly wed couple and up to seven newborns were also among the victims of this national tragedy that came on the heels of Siachen avalanche catastrophe.Filled with profound grief and overtaken by gravity of the after-accident media coverage, most people remained glued to the TV screens till late night as cameras showed scattered debris in Hussainabad, a Rawalpindi village near Korang Town.Rescue workers, who combed muddy fields at the crash site with flashlights, said there was no chance of finding survivors.Other than wallets, eyeglasses and other belongings of the unfortunate passengers that lay among wreckage strewn in this small settlement were their body parts, which the cameramen tried not to shot for obvious reasons. A man who had been waiting at the airport for the flight yelled “my two daughters are dead” as tears streamed down his face. In a state of shock, he then slumped on the floor and sat silently as other relatives of passengers crowded around lists of those on board. The uncle of the sisters, 18 and 20, said they were supposed to return to Islamabad on Sunday but flew early to see an aunt who is visiting from London. “We don’t even know when or where we will get to see their bodies,” said the uncle, Qamar Abbas, who kept mumbling “no, no, no” to himself.Nearby, relatives of passengers hugged each other and sobbed. One man cried “my kids, my kids”. Among them was Zarina Bibi, desperate to determine whether her husband was on the flight. “He called me before leaving Karachi but I don’t know if he was on this flight or not,” said Bibi, whose eyes were red from crying.The locals have been somewhat lucky as the plane landed in a relatively open space and their lives were spared. Parts of the aircraft however smashed into electricity poles, blanketing the area in darkness.Residents said they had seen a ball of fire in the sky when the plane crashed though initial unverified reports blamed bad weather marked with heavy downpour for the crash. Bhoja Air said the airplane crashed during its approach in Islamabad due to bad weather. There was no indication from the government that it could have been the result of foul play.Investigators were successful in finding the Black Box, the electromagnetic instrument that maintains flight record and is considered the most potent source of information vital to find the cause of any accident.“This is a very unfortunate incident and a very sad day for Pakistan. My heart felt condolences are with the victim families. Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar told The Nation by phone.“On one had the bad weather got our brothers trapped in Gayari while on the other hand, it took 127 precious lives here… I’ve ordered a detailed inquiry into the incident and instructed the Civil Aviation Authority DG to submit the report at the earliest.”CAA DG Captain Nadeem Yousufzai also rejected the reports that the crashed Boeing 737 was not fit for flight and CAA navigational system was not operational.“These are just speculations. Our navigational system was fully operational and the plane was airworthy. The aviation activity was normal. The plane was given clearance for landing four miles prior to reaching the runway and that was when it lost contact with air traffic control and disappeared.”They have launched a detailed inquiry led by the defence ministry, he said. “It would be determined whether it was cloud burst, micro burst, hailstorm or a technical fault.”The DG CAA said he had requested Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) managing director to provide a plane for moving the bereaved families from Karachi to Islamabad.“This would be done soon. We’ve also created separate help desks for coordination between CAA and affected families at Karachi airport. Speculations need to be avoided and the inquiry be let completed.”The ill-fated plane had crashed to rubbles reportedly when the flight pilot Captain Noor Afridi went for emergency landing a few minutes before the scheduled time. Purportedly, the plane took off from Karachi at 5pm sharp.As per standard practice, according to sources, the flight was scheduled to reach Islamabad within two hours, latest by 7pm while the air traffic control (ATC) had cleared the flight landing by 6:45pm. Following heavy downpour on Friday, the communication between the flight Captain Noor Afridi, Co-Pilot Javaid and the ATC at BBIA got disrupted at around 6:40pm that saw the plane crash within a couple of minutes, the officials said.“It appears that the pilot got panicky and rushed to land the plane. This was because he didn’t want to keep flying under heavy rain and may be he tried to save fuel that proved fatal,” informed officials in CAA said. CAA Public Relations General Manager Pervaiz George said the victims were boarding flight number B4-213. “The CAA rescue teams, army, navy, police and rescue 1122 are at the crash site for recovery operations,” he told this newspaper.Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) said Pakistan Army’s rescue team comprising personnel of Quick Reaction Force, ambulances and emergency rescue contingents were sent to the site of accident. “Emergency has been declared in military hospitals, ready to receive causalities,” it said. Military sources said some one hundred solders of military’s Rawalpindi Corps were engaged in the rescue operation. The deadly incident is second in less than two years that saw the crash of a commercial plane due to bad weather and causing to kill all the passengers onboard. Earlier on July 28 2010, an Air Blue’s Islamabad bound flight from Karachi had crashed near Margalla hills and resulted in the deaths of over 150 passengers.Bhoja Air spokesman Jasir Abro refused to provide the exact number of passengers onboard and subsequent casualties saying that incident occurred due to cloud burst owing to heavy downpour.“An investigation has been launched to ascertain the cause of crash. Initial findings suggest it was cloud burst and it could have been beyond the control of any pilot to deal with this kind of situation,” he told this correspondent while refusing to comment any further. President of CAA Officers Association of Pakistan (CAAOAP) and Walton Airport Lahore General Manager Ghulam Mustafa Mirani conveyed his condolences on behalf of the CAAOAP.“This is really shocking and one of the biggest tragedies our country has confronted in recent times. The CAAOAP stands by the bereaved families. Our heart-felt sympathies are with them,” he said.