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Pakistan is observing a day of mourning for the 152 people killed in the country's worst aviation disaster, as rescue workers searched for the aircraft's black box.
Investigators hope the flight data recorder will give clues to the exact cause of Wednesday's crash which occurred amid heavy rain and poor visibility in the hills outside Islamabad.
The government said all possible causes would be investigated, including terrorism, bad weather and sabotage, although officials gave no indication that an attack might have been to blame.
Two Americans, an Austrian-born businessman and seven children were among the 152 people on board the Airblue flight ED 202 from the southern city of Karachi. The Airbus 321 was coming in to land at Islamabad's Benazir Bhutto International airport when witnesses saw it flying at an unusually low altitude before hearing a deafening boom.
The plane disintegrated into a gorge between two hills, enveloped in cloud and some distance from the road, severely hampering rescue efforts and limiting visibility for helicopters hovering overhead.
Health officials said DNA tests would be the only way to identify many of the remains. "Nobody survived," Interior Minister Rehman Malik told Express TV. "It's a big tragedy. It's really a big tragedy."
Officials suggested the flight had been diverted due to bad weather, but it was unclear why the jet was flying so low and close to the Margalla Hills -- off the normal route for aircraft arriving from Karachi.
