ISLAMABAD: A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane with about 47 people on board crashed in the mountainous north of the country on Wednesday, police and the civil aviation authority said.

PIA said a plane bound for the capital, Islamabad, from the northern town of Chitral lost contact with the control tower en route.

The aircraft was carrying "around 40 people", the airline said in a statement, but the civil aviation authority said 47 people were on board. It is not clear if there were any casualties.

Laiq Shah, a senior police official in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said the plane had crashed in the province's Havelian area.

"Rescue teams are reaching the scene of the crash, and then we will know more," Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Pervez George told Reuters.

Geo News and Dawn News TV stations, citing civil aviation sources, said the plane lost contact with civil aviation authority at around 4.30 p.m. (1130 GMT).

(Updated)

Plane with more than 40 people aboard crashes in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: A Pakistan International Airlines flight carrying more than 40 people crashed on Wednesday en route to Islamabad from the northern city of Chitral, a regional police official said.

The national flag carrier confirmed in a statement that Flight PK-661 had lost contact with air traffic controllers on Wednesday afternoon.

Laiq Shah, a senior police official in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province told Reuters by telephone that the plane had crashed in that region, near the town of Havelian.

He said rescue personnel were en route to the scene.