KARACHI, Nov 5: A chartered plane carrying employees of a foreign oil company crashed soon after takeoff here on Friday morning, killing all 21 people on board, including an Italian national. The Beech 1900C aircraft, which belonged to the JS Group, was chartered by Eni, an Italian oil company, to transport its staff to the Bhit gas field, in Jamshoro district. It crashed in the premises of Central Ordnance Depot, near the Jinnah International Airport.

“The aircraft took off at 7.13am from the tarmac. The pilot immediately informed the control tower that one of the engines has stopped working. The control tower told the pilot to return and the runway was being cleared for its landing.

But the plane nosedived soon after it took a turn to approach the runway,” said Pervaiz George, a spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority. “It’s not yet clear which engine had failed,” he said.

Col (retd) Mukhtar Butt, a consultant of CAA’s public relations, told Dawn that the aircraft was airworthy and the aviation had also issued a certificate for the purpose. Licences of the pilot and co-pilot were valid and they had also completed their routine training under the prescribed laws.

According to AFP, Mr Butt said the black box data recorder had been found. Fire engulfed the aircraft after the crash. The CAA dispatched its fire tenders to the scene.

The bodies of Pilot Naeemul-Haq and co-pilot Noman Shamsi had been retrieved by cutting through the wreckage, officials said.

Lieutenant Colonel Noor Alam told reporters at COD entrance that the bodies were beyond recognition and it was difficult to find out if the victims were local or foreigners. The plane was totally gutted and there were no survivors. The wreckage was cut to recover some bodies.

Media personnel were kept away from the crash site, apparently because of the sensitive nature of the place. However, some cameramen managed to catch a bird’s eyeview from the roof of an apartment block in Gulistan-i-Jauhar.

An inquiry has been ordered by the ministry of defence. Khawaja Abdul Majeed, president of the CAA’s safety investigation board, has been appointed inquiry officer, the aviation’s spokesman said.

“Windowpanes of our house vibrated. We heard a big bang which seemed very near. I came out of the house and saw smoke coming from the direction of the COD,” said Adnan Ali, who lives in an apartment near the COD.

A teacher of a nearby private school told Dawn that her students saw the plane coming down.

In a statement issued from Milan, Eni, the Italian company, said that the chartered aircraft crashed immediately after taking off from the Jinnah Airport at 7.25am. The aircraft was carrying 21 passengers -- 15 Eni employees, two contractor’s workers, three crew members and one Airport Security Force man.

The company issued a list of its employees who died -- Altaf Hussain Khalid, Hussain Sadaqat, Jamali Nisar Ahmed, Khan Noor, Moazzam Saeed, Nadeem Ahmed, Nizamani Muhammad Azam, Rafique Sajid, Rana Muhammad Alam, Raza Amir, Saleemuddin, Shah Iqbal Hussain, Siddique Shahid, Syed Anwar Imran, Syed Irshad Ali, Tahir Muhammad and Sasso Antonio, an Italian national.

Niaz Ahmed Khosa, a senior police official, said that eight bodies had been identified and DNA samples from the remaining 13 had been obtained.

The body of ASF guard Zafar was identified from his burnt out uniform. The body of Sajid Rafique was identified easily by his brother because he had six fingers, the SSP said. “We have requested for the autopsy of only pilot and co-pilot because it was important from the investigation point of view. We have given a written statement to doctors to exempt the rest of the victims from post-mortem examination and only carry out external examination,” SSP Khosa told Dawn.

Bodies were taken to the Aga Khan Hospital, where some of them were recognised by their relatives. The unidentified bodies and that of the pilot and co-pilot were later taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for DNA sampling.

The bodies have been kept in the Edhi morgue for identification.