Bhoja Air Boeing 737-236 plane crash
Islamabad, Pakistan
Updated on
The Boeing 737-236 operated by Bhoja Air took off from Karachi, Pakistan, for a passenger flight to Islamabad, Pakistan. 121 passengers and 6 crewmembers were onboard. The plane crashed shortly before landing at Islamabad airport, in a populated areas a few kilometres away from the runway. All the 127 passengers were killed. No one on ground was injured, although about 50 houses on the ground were destroyed.
A violent storm that was lashing Islamabad when the accident took place. The Boeing 737 was approaching Islamadad airport for landing, and was established on ILS runway 30 in visibility of about 4000 meters. The air traffic controllers cleared the plane to land. The crew copied the clearance. That was the last communication between the ground and the plane. A few seconds later, the aircraft suddenly descended and then disappeared from radar.
The plane impacted terrain about 5 km short of and slightly left of the extended runway center line, near Jinnah Gardens. It completely broke up, burst into flames and came to rest in Hussain Abad Village. The crash site extends over a distance of about 4000 meters, the main wreckage came to rest about 4km short of the runway.
Investigators noticed that the aircraft was flying too low: about 5.4 NM (10 km) before touchdown radar showed the aircraft at 200 feet AGL (60 meters) where it should have been at about 1700 feet AGL (520 meters). First information suggests the crew lost control of the aircraft prior to losing height.