WEB DESK
At least 57 passengers were killed killed as a PIA plane with 99 onboard crashed into residential area near Karachi airport Friday evening.
A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) passenger plane, with an estimated 99 people onboard, crashed in Karachi near Jinnah International Airport on Friday.
Sindh health officials have said that so far, 57 people have been confirmed dead. It is, however, unclear if the deceased were all onboard the flight or include area residents as well where the crash took place. Two people are confirmed to have survived the crash, according to officials.
Pilot had communicated a technical difficulty to the air traffic control moments before crash
Plane crashed a few hundred feet away from the runway
Rescue efforts currently under way; military personnel and rescue workers attempting to retrieve bodies from the rubble
Both survivors are in stable condition
PIA spokesperson Abdullah Hafeez said that the A320 Airbus was carrying 91 passengers and 8 crew members from Lahore to Karachi on PK 8303. Eyewitnesses said the Airbus A320 appeared to attempt to land two or three times before crashing in a residential area near the airport.
Meeran Yousuf, the media coordinator for the Sindh health minister, confirmed pak media that two passengers had survived and were brought to hospitals. She identified the survivors as Zubair and Zafar Masood, who is the president of Bank of Punjab.
“Zubair has 35 per cent burns and is being treated at the Civil Hospital Karachi, while Masood has four fractures and is being treated at the Darul Sehat Hospital,” said Yousuf, adding that both were in stable condition. Moreover, she added that five victims had been identified so far.
A third person, who had earlier been identified as a survivor from the plane, was later identified to be a resident of the area where the plane crashed.