Islamabad, Feb 21 (Reuters): Pakistan held a prayer ceremony today for its air force chief and 16 others killed in an air crash and news reports said pilot error in foggy weather was the most likely cause of the accident.

An air force Fokker F-27 turboprop carrying Air Chief Marshal Mushaf Ali Mir, his wife and several senior officers crashed on a hill about 27 km from the northwestern town of Kohat yesterday, killing all 17 aboard.

The prayer ceremony, attended by President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, was held at the air force base in capital Islamabad.

The victims of the air crash will be buried later in their hometowns.

While a board of inquiry has been set up to determine the exact reason for the crash, news reports today quoted officials as saying pilot error in low visibility was the most likely cause.

Air force spokesman Air Commodore Sarfraz Ahmed Khan called the crash an accident yesterday, but said the weather had been fit for flying.

However, residents of Taulanj, the village near where the plane came down, said the skies had been foggy at the time.

The News newspaper quoted an unnamed senior official as saying the Fokker had hit the hillside after the pilot flew low to escape thick cloud.

“It was an accident because of human error and apparently there was no element of sabotage or act of terrorism,” it quoted the official as saying.

It was the worst military air crash since 1988 when Pakistan's then-President and army chief, Gen. Mohammad Zia- ul-Haq, died in a mysterious crash in Punjab province.

The cause of that crash, which also killed the intelligence chief and the US ambassador, has never been established.

Those killed yesterday included two air vice marshals, two air force commodores and Mir's wife Bilqees. The air force chief, who was 55 and had held his job since November 2000, had been on the way to Kohat.