Islamabad: A small, private plane chartered to an oil company crashed near the airport in Pakistan's largest city Friday after the pilot warned of engine trouble, killing all 21 people on board, officials said.
The crash was the second in less than four months in Pakistan - the latest tragedy in a year when massive floods left millions homeless and Islamist militants kept up attacks.
The previous crash, in July, killed 152 people and was the worst-ever on Pakistani soil.
The plane that crashed Friday morning had just taken off from the southern city of Karachi.
The pilot told the control tower minutes before the crash that there appeared to be some fault with the engine, said Pervez George, a spokesman for the country's Civil Aviation Authority.
The pilot was ordered to return to the airport, but as he was turning the aircraft, it went down in an open field, the spokesman said. The plane caught on fire after the crash.
TV footage from the scene showed it had broken into pieces, with the tail completely separated from the otherwise charred body.
"The bodies onboard are beyond recognition," said Army Lt. Col. Noor Alam, a lead rescue official.
The make and model of the plane were not immediately clear, but officials said it was chartered to an oil company and headed to an oil field in the Bhitshah area in southern Sindh province.
State-run Pakistan Television said foreigners may have been among the passengers. The US Embassy said it was checking to see if any were American.
Karachi is a mega-city of more than 16 million people and its airport hosts flights from all over the world.
The July 28 flight by Pakistani carrier Airblue crashed into hills overlooking the capital, Islamabad, during stormy weather. Initial reports said a few people had survived that crash, but later it was confirmed all 152 onboard the Airbus A321 had died, including at least two US citizens.
