Pakistan International Airlines flight crashes in Karachi with 107 on board
Over 100 people are feared dead after a passenger jet crashed into a residential area in Pakistan, days after the country resumed flights.
A survivor has been pulled from the wreckage of a plane crash in Pakistan which is feared to have left nearly 100 people dead.
The Pakistan International Airlines jet crashed into houses on its final approach to Jinnah International Airport in Karachi when the pilot lost “two engines”.
Incredible footage later emerged which showed banker Zafar Masood being carried away from the burning jet in a street swamped with smoking debris.
A photo later showed him smiling on a stretcher after apparently escaping with just broken bones and scratches.
The CEO of the Bank of Punjab is reported to be just one of two passengers said to have dodged death in this afternoon’s tragedy.
After being plucked from the wreckage he was taken to hospital for treatment to a broken hip and fractured collar bones.
“Thank you so much. God has been merciful,” he said, according to officials who spoke to him there.
The other known survivor was named as Muhammad Zubair who was reportedly sitting at the front of the plane - which was carrying 98 people - near Masood who was seated in 1C.
Hopes of a second survivor came after a woman tweeted saying one of her relative had also made it out alive.
Zainab Imam, a communications manager with the Washington-based International Center for Journalists, wrote: “A close relative was on the flight from Lahore that crashed. There are survivors - he is one.
“Thank you for everyone’s good wishes. We hope that our good news gives others hope. We’re praying that there are other survivors who got as lucky as he did.”
Images also emerged of baby being rescued from the crash site, but she lived in one of the houses hit by the plane.
According to witnesses, the aircraft circled the airport two or three times before plummeting into the residential area and destroying several buildings at 2.45pm local time today.
MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY
The final moments of a doomed flight that crashed in Pakistan have been revealed, with a pilot calmly telling an air traffic control tower that he had lost power in two engines.
“We are returning back, sir, we have lost engines,” the pilot reported.
The Airbus 320, carrying 107 people, then crashed into a residential area in Karachi, the former capital of Pakistan.
There were reports of some survivors from Pakistan International Airlines Flight 8303, including Zafar Masood, chief executive of Bank of Punjab, who was in seat 1C, and Khalid Sherdil, who was in 1F.
A passenger in seat 20F also survived, according to family members’ claims on social media.
Images from people at the site show army officers pulling a child from the area where the plane crashed.
“A young kid being rescued out of the #PlaneCrash site by Pakistan Rangers Sindh Troops.
Hope and prayers for safety of others too,” journalist Gharidah Farooqi tweeted.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, a former international fast bowler, said he was devastated and promised an inquiry.
“Shocked & saddened by the PIA crash. Am in touch with PIA CEO Arshad Malik, who has left for Karachi & with the rescue & relief teams on ground as this is the priority right now,” he said.
“Immediate inquiry will be instituted. Prayers & condolences go to families of the deceased.”
The flight left Lahore Airport but crashed in Karachi about 90 minutes later when it attempted to land.
“At the moment we have the view that there will be no survivors from the plane itself but it is not confirmed,” the city’s mayor Waseem Akhtar told Reuters by phone from the scene of the crash.
He said there were thought to be survivors from the area where the plane crashed.
Pakistani civil aviation officials contradicted the mayor’s claims, however, saying at least two people survived the crash.
The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
Chaos in Pakistan as a plane crashes into homes in Karachi pic.twitter.com/zALXrBuGI9
— The Sun (@TheSun) May 22, 2020
Local TV stations ran footage of a man on a stretcher who they said had survived the crash.
The state carrier said flight PK 8303 had crashed with 99 passengers and eight crew members on board, though civil aviation officials said, “the last we heard from the pilot was that he has some technical problem,” PIA spokesman Abdullah H Khan said in a video statement. “It is a very tragic incident.
Pakistani model Zara Abid, who has nearly 80,000 Instagram followers, is believed to be one of the victims on the doomed aircraft.
It has been reported that the social media star is missing and that her parents are desperately trying to contact her.
Just three days ago she posted a glamourous image of herself in a helicopter saying, “Fly high, it’s good.”
A senior civil aviation official told Reuters it appeared the plane was unable to open its wheels due to a technical fault prior to landing, but it was too early to determine the cause.
Moments before the crash, the desperate pilot contacted air traffic control saying: “We have lost two engines. Mayday, mayday, mayday. It’s serious.”
Geo TV broadcaster showed crowds near the scene, which appeared to be a densely populated area, and ambulances trying to make their way through. Black smoke billowed and several cars were on fire.
The Pakistani army said its quick reaction force and paramilitary troops had reached the site for relief and rescue efforts alongside civil administration bodies.
A senior civil aviation official told Reuters it appeared the plane was unable to open its wheels due to a technical fault prior to landing, but it was to early to determine the cause.
Witnesses said the Airbus A320 appeared to attempt to land two or three times before crashing in a residential area near Jinnah International Airport.
The residential area on the edge of the airport known as Model Colony is a poor area and heavily congested.
A resident of the area, Abdul Rahman, said he saw the aircraft circle at least three times, appearing to try to land at the airport before it crashed into several houses.
Police and military had cordoned off the area.
Local television reports showed smoke coming from the direction of the airport.
Ambulances were on their way to the airport.
The flight typically takes an hour and a half to travel from the northeastern city of Lahore, the capital of Pakistan’s most populous Punjab province to Karachi.
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It comes just days after the country began allowing commercial flights to resume after planes were grounded during a lockdown over the coronavirus pandemic.
Pakistan has a chequered military and civilian aviation safety record, with frequent plane and helicopter crashes over the years.
In 2016, a Pakistan International Airlines plane burst into flames after one of its two turboprop engines failed while flying from the remote northern to Islamabad, killing more than 40 people.
The crash comes as Pakistanis across the country are preparing to celebrate the end of Ramadan and the beginning of Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr, with many travelling back to their homes in cities and villages.
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