(Reuters) - Heavy monsoon rains in Islamabad on Thursday hampered recovery efforts at the site of a Pakistani plane crash that killed all 152 people on board a day earlier, a senior police officer said.

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The Airbus 321, belonging to private airlineAirBlue, crashed on Wednesday into a steep and heavily-wooded hillsidein Islamabad shortly before it was due to land after a flight from thesouthern port city of Karachi.
Thick fog and rainy weather are considered the most likely reasons for the worst aviation accident on Pakistani soil.
BinYameen, deputy inspector-general with the Islamabad police, toldReuters the operation to recover the remains of victims could not beresumed due to the heavy rain. Difficulty in accessing the site wasalso complicating salvage efforts.
"We are waiting for the rain to stop. In such weather, neither helicopters can fly nor rescue workers move up easily.
"We may give it a try but it seems very difficult to carry out such operation in difficult terrain," he said.
Investigators were looking into causes of the crash, said senior Civil Aviation Administration officer Ayaz Jadoon.
"They'regoing through records and documents, though they couldn't go up becauseof bad weather," he said, adding the plane's "black box" data recorderhas yet to be recovered.
The control tower at the airport was sealed off, and radio traffic between the plane and the tower was being examined.
The torrential rain may also damage, or wash away, evidence at the site.
"Timeis very precious," the investigation team's head, Khawaja Abdul Majeed,told Dawn News television after arriving in Islamabad late Wednesdayfrom Karachi.
"We have to collect evidence as soon as possible, so we don't have much time."
WhileWednesday's crash is the worst aviation accident inside Pakistan, thestate-owned airline PIA has had worse disasters. In 1979 and 1992, PIAjets crashed in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and Kathmandu, Nepal, killing 156 and 167 people, respectively.
WithinPakistan, the last major aviation accident was in 2006 when a PIA planecrashed near the central city of Multan killing 45 people.
Thefederal information minister said late on Wednesday rescue workers hadbeen able to recover 115 bodies during a day-long operation at thehard-to-access site.
Some relatives gathered at the city's main Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) hospital to identify bodies.
Ahospital official, Tahir Nadeem, said 59 bodies had been identified andtaken away by their relatives while the remaining bodies -- mostly inpieces -- have been sent to the morgue.
The government declared a day of mourning on Thursday for the victims.
"Myheart and mind are not ready to believe that he has died. I'm stillhoping he might call me anytime," civil engineer Nadeem Ahmed toldReuters, as he searched among the bodies at the hospital for hisbrother. Ahmed did not find his brother's body.
(Reporting by Kamran Haider; Editing by Chris Allbritton and Miral Fahmy)