As Pakistan observes a day of mourning, recovery teams at the site of the worst air disaster in the country’s history are struggling against heavy rain and difficult terrain to recover the bodies of the victims. There is still no confirmation as to what caused the crash and rumours that the Airbus A321’s flight recorder had been recovered appear to be premature.

Eyewitnesses on the ground say that the passenger jet, coming from Karachi, was flying at a very low altitude as it came into land in Islamabad. It then crashed into the Margalla Hills to the north of the city. The plane was attempting to land in very poor visibility and heavy monsoon rains. The poor flying conditions have already caused the cancellation of a number of flights on the popular commuter route between Karachi and Islamabad.

Qamar Zaman Kaira, Pakistan’s Information Minister told reporters that so far 115 bodies had been recovered from the wreckage. He added that many of the victims had been so badly burnt during the crash that DNA testing would be needed in the identification process.

Only 46 of the bodies recovered have so far been identified. Islamabad government official, Aamir Ali Ahmed, told Reuters that most of the bodies being brought out of the hills had been charred. He added that the heavy rain was making travel to and from the crash site very difficult.

Airblue, the private airline leasing the Airbus, is likely to come under heavy fire for allowing one of its services to fly in such poor weather conditions. Raheel Ahmed, spokesman for Airblue, said the aircraft had never had any technical issues, and that the accident was a tragedy.