Dawn.com:
A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) passenger plane, with an estimated 98 people onboard, crashed in Karachi’s Model Colony near Jinnah International Airport on Friday.
PIA spokesperson Abdullah Hafeez confirmed the crash and added that the A320 Airbus was carrying 90 passengers and 8 crew members from Lahore to Karachi on PK 8303. Witnesses said the Airbus A320 appeared to attempt to land two or three times before crashing in a residential area near the airport.
“The aeroplane first hit a mobile tower and crashed over houses,” witness Shakeel Ahmed said near the site, just a few kilometres
short of the airport, according to Reuters.
Crowd gathered at the crash site.
Footage showed plumes of smoke rising from the site of the crash within the congested residential area. Ambulances and rescue officials arrived at the scene to help residents. Eyewitnesses told DawnNewsTV that the plane was on fire in the air before crashing.
Videos from the crash site obtained by Dawn.com showed bodies buried underneath rubble and residents gathering in streets littered with debris while Rangers and Sindh police carried out rescue operations.
Another video showed Edhi workers and firefighters hosing down the remains of the aircraft and searching for survivors.
Director Programming 24 News Ansar Naqvi and Bank of Punjab President Zafar Masood were among the passengers. Masood’s family has confirmed that he survived the crash.
Meeran Yousuf, the media coordinator for the Sindh health minister, confirmed to Dawn.com that three passengers had survived and were brought to hospitals. She identified the survivors as Zubair, Tahira and Zafar Masood.
Sindh Information Minister Nasir Hussain Shah had earlier said during a media talk that two passengers had survived and were brought to hospitals in injured condition. The Sindh government’s spokesperson Barrister Murtaza Wahab also confirmed the same in a tweet. Details of other passengers are awaited.
Shah said authorities were in the process of collecting data and that it would be too soon to give a conclusive figure on deaths and injuries.
Saad Edhi, spokesperson of the Edhi Foundation, said they have shifted 35 bodies from the site of the crash to different hospitals. Around 25-30 injured people, who are residents of the area, have also been brought to the hospital, he added.
He said nothing concrete could be said about the number of deceased and survivors as of now.
To inquire about the plane crash incident or passenger details, you may contact 02199242284, 02199043766, 02199043833.
Soon after the crash, Sindh Minister of Health & Population Welfare declared an emergency in all major hospitals of Karachi.
Speaking to the media outside Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Sindh Health Minister Azra Pechuho said that it was still to early to ascertain the number of people that had been injured in the crash.
“Eleven bodies have been brought to the hospital and six injured. Out of the injured, four are stable and two are burns cases.”
She added that officials were currently in the process of identifying the deceased in order to inform their families.
“We don’t know how many are injured and how many are dead. I am visiting hospitals […] we were already in an emergency situation due to Covid-19 so doctors were alert. We have also alerted surgical units,” she said.
The plane crashed only moments before its expected landing. A transmission of the pilot’s final exchange with air traffic control, posted on the website LiveATC.net, indicated he had failed to land and was circling around to make another attempt, reported AP.
“We are proceeding direct, sir – we have lost engine,” a pilot can be heard saying.
“Confirm your attempt on belly,” the air traffic controller said, offering a runway.
“Sir – mayday, mayday, mayday, mayday Pakistan 8303,” the pilot said before the transmission ended.
PIA Chief Executive Officer Air Marshal Arshad Malik, who left for Karachi, said the pilot told the control room that there was a technical issue and he decided to go around rather than land even though two runways were ready for landing.
“Our crew is trained to handle emergency landings. All my prayers are with the families. We will continue to provide information in a transparent manner,” said the spokesperson, Hafeez.
For his part, Pakistan Airlines Pilots’ Association spokesperson Tariq Yahya, while speaking on Geo News, said that the plane seemed to be gliding at the end. “Communications show that the plane did not have power at the end and was gliding and couldn’t make it to the runway,” said Yahya, adding that it didn’t have power when it was asked to climb to 3,000 feet.
He added, however, that these were “only are assumptions and we will not know the exact cause until we find the blackbox.”
Prime Minister Imran Khan said he was “shocked and saddened by the PIA crash”.
“Am in touch with PIA CEO Arshad Malik, who has left for Karachi, and with the rescue and relief teams on ground as this is the priority right now. Immediate inquiry will be instituted. Prayers and condolences go to families of the deceased,” he said.
Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa condoled “loss of precious lives”. “[COAS] Shares grief of bereaved families in this difficult time. COAS directed provision of full assistance to civil administration in rescue/ relief effort,” said Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).
A statement by ISPR said Army Quick Reaction Force and Sindh Pakistan Rangers reached the site for relief and rescue efforts alongside civil administration.
SAPM on Information and broadcasting Asim Saleem Bajwa said that on Prime Minister Imran Khan’s directions, all emergency services and resources have been mobilised and evacuation is in progress.
Chief Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan, Chief of the Air Staff, Pakistan Air Force expressed grief over the tragic air crash. He further said that PAF stands by PIA at this difficult time and extends all out support in the rescue operation.
Federal Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar also expressed deep grief and sadness over the incident and has ordered the Aircraft Accident Investigation Board to conduct an “immediate inquiry” into the crash.
Federal Information Minister Shibli Faraz called it an “extremely saddening accident”.
“We are with the affected families in their grief. The primary attention is on relief activities right now.”
In Pakistan’s most recent deadly crash, a PIA plane in 2016 burst into flames after one of its two turboprop engines failed while flying from the remote north to Islamabad, killing more than 40 people.
The deadliest air disaster on Pakistani soil was in 2010, when an Airbus A321 operated by private airline Airblue and flying from Karachi crashed into the hills outside Islamabad as it came into land, killing all 152 people on board.
