A Pakistani passenger plane carrying over 152 people on Wednesday crashed into the heavily forested Margalla Hills surrounding Islamabad due to bad weather, police and rescue workers said.

The Airbus aircraft of the private airline Air Blue hit the Margalla Hills near the Daman-e-Koh viewpoint this morning, officials of the police and a state-run rescue service said.

The aircraft, flying from Turkey to Islamabad via Karachi, was preparing to land when it crashed, said Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority Spokesman Pervez George.

"There were 146 passengers and six crew on board," he said. "When it was preparing to land, it crashed in the Margalla Hills."

Islamabad has been hit by heavy rains for the past few days and the city was covered by fog and low clouds.     A spokesperson for the state-run Rescue 1122 service said there were reports that at least 150 people were on the aircraft. Rescue works were being affected by bad weather and smoke and fire at the crash site, which is not accessible by tracks or roads.

The crash occurred in an area that is not accessible by roads or trials. Rescue workers said they were facing problems in approaching the crash site. The heavy rains too were hampering rescue efforts.

"We have sought helicopters from the army's aviation wing and a counter-terrorism body. We will need at least eight to 10 helicopters because of the inaccessibility of the area," the spokesperson said.

An army helicopter surveyed the crash site at about 10.30 am (local time) but could not land at the spot.

TV news channels also quoted sources as saying that the chances of anyone surviving the crash were very low.     

So far five bodies were recovered from the site.

"Several bodies are lying in the area. Four or five bodies have been taken," Imtiaz Inayat, a senior Islamabad municipal official, told Geo television.

"There is fire across a large area. Rescue teams have been sent. Helicopters have been deployed," he added.     Civil aviation officials said the aircraft had disappeared from radar screens shortly before the crash was reported. It had taken off from Karachi at 7.50 am.

Footage aired on TV news channels showed white smoke rising from the thick forests in the Margalla Hills. Witnesses said they had seen flames in the wreckage of the aircraft.

Pakistan Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar ruled out any sabotage and said the Government does not suspect any terror attack. "There is no sabotage. There is no question of any terror attack," he said.

Mukhtar said the aircraft was in air for nearly 90 minutes since it took off from Karachi before it crashed into the hills.

Here are some previous Air Crash incidents in Pakistan

July 2006: All 45 passengers and crew on a Pakistan International Airlines passenger plane were killed when it crashed soon after take-off in eastern Pakistan.

February 2003: A Pakistani air force plane crashed into a mountainside in a remote region of northwestern Pakistan, killing all 17 people on board, including the chief of the air force.

September 1992: A Pakistani Airbus jetliner crashed in Nepal, killing all 167 people aboard. The crew had miscalculated their altitude.

August 1988: President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq, US Ambassador to Pakistan Arnold L Raphel, Brig. Gen. Herbert M Wassom and 27 others died when President Zia's plane exploded minutes after taking off in eastern Pakistan.