Rain slows search for dead in Pakistan plane crash

Authorities speculated that monsoon weather the day before may have been a factor in the crash of the Airblue flight from Karachi to Islamabad. The plane was apparently off course when it slammed into the Margalla Hills, killing all 152 people on board.

Army troops and civilian rescue workers searched a large stretch of the hills scorched by the crash, but tough conditions slowed the pace of operations, said Ramzan Khalid, spokesman for the Capital Development Authority, which helps deal with emergencies. Helicopters could not fly in the heavy rain, he said.

The plane's "black box" flight data recorders have yet to be recovered. Information extracted from them will be key in determining the cause of the crash. Defense Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar and other officials have said the government does not suspect terrorism.

Even when the search is completed, it could take days to identify all the victims with DNA testing since most of the bodies were torn apart and burned in the crash, a grim scene described by rescue workers scouring the twisted metal wreckage.

"There is nothing left, just piles and bundles of flesh. There are just some belongings, like two or three traveling bags, some checkbooks, and I saw a picture of a young boy. Otherwise everything is burned," rescue worker Murtaza Khan said.

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