A Pakistani plane carrying up to 47 passengers has crashed near Abbottabad, a regional police official has said.

Pakistan International Airlines’ (PIA) passenger plane PK 116 was on its way to Islamabad from the northern city of Chitral.

The national flag carrier confirmed in a statement the plane had lost contact with air traffic controllers on Wednesday afternoon.

“PIA’s ATR-42 aircraft operating as PK-661, carrying around 40 persons lost its contact with the control tower on its way from Chitral to Islamabad a short while ago,” PIA spokesman Daniyal Gilani tweeted.

“All resources are being mobilised to locate the aircraft.”

Initial reports said there were 37 passengers on the plane, however reports from Geo News and Dawn News channels both reported 47 people were on board the missing aircraft.

Geo News, citing civil aviation sources, said the plane lost contact with civil aviation authority at around 4.30pm (11.30 GMT).

SOURCE Independent