ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A passenger jet that officials suspect veered off course in monsoon rains and thick clouds crashed into hills overlooking Pakistan's capital Wednesday, killing all 152 people on board and scattering body parts and twisted metal far and wide.

The head of Pakistan's civil defense body told NBC News that, contrary to earlier reports, no one travelling aboard the Airblue flight from Karachi to Islamabad had survived.

Initial reports suggested that up to five survivors had been pulled from the wreckage after the plane smashed into a heavily wooded hillside during a rainstorm.

"Dead bodies are lying all around," Bin Yameen, a senior Islamabad police official, told Reuters.

U.S. Embassy spokesman Richard Snelsire confirmed that at least two American citizens were on board, but he declined to provide any further information on their identities.

The plane left the southern city of Karachi at 7:45 a.m. for a two-hour flight to Islamabad and was trying to land when it lost contact with the control tower, said Pervez George, a civil aviation official. Airblue is a private airline based in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city.

The aircraft, an Airbus A321, crashed some 15 kilometers from the airport, scorching a wide stretch of the Margalla Hills, including a section behind Faisal Mosque, one of Islamabad's most prominent landmarks. Twisted metal wreckage hung from trees and lay scattered across the ground. Smoke rose from the scene as helicopters hovered.