KARACHI - A Russian cargo plane crashed in Karachis Dalmia Naval Colony in the wee hours of Sunday, killing at least 11 people including all eight crewmembers on board and three on the ground. The Sudan-bound four-engine plane took off from Quaid-i-Azam International Airport at 1.55 am and crashed after five minutes of its flight. Eyewitnesses said they saw planes right engine was on fire before it plunged towards the ground and crashed causing a huge explosion. Several residential buildings caught fire after the explosion. Rescue and relief teams rushed to the crash site. So far rescue workers recovered four bodies from the wreckage of the plane. It is learnt that these cargo planes were normally used by NATO forces for shifting of cargo to Afghanistan. It was not immediately known what kind of cargo this plane was carrying from Karachi to Khartoum. Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) spokesman Pervez George said first reports indicated it was a Russian cargo plane with eight crewmembers and it came UAE. He further said that normally such planes carry three or four people as crew. All the crewmembers were foreigners, he added. The cause of the crash was not yet established by the CAA authorities. When contacted, airport authorities told this correspondent that it was too early to draw any conclusion. Replying to a question, they said apparently it was a technical fault that caused the crash. He, however, did not respond when asked if there could be a possibility of terrorist activity. Dalmia is a thickly populated area near Gulistan-i-Johar. Hundreds of people have gathered at the spot arrived on the spot while the crash site is on fire and thick smoke emitting from the scene, eyewitnesses said. The local authorities declared emergency in all the Karachi hospital putting the staff on high alert. Meanwhile, a number of injured people were shifted to these hospitals. Condition of some of the injured was stated to be serious. A large number of ambulances were seen at the crash site ferrying injured to the hospitals. It may be recalled that a small plane carrying 22 people crashed near Karachi Airport on November 5 last. The two pilots and all 20 passengers were killed. On July 28, an Airblue plane crashed outside Islamabad, killing 152 people. It was the worst crash on Pakistani soil.