Dozens killed in Pakistan jetliner crash
KARACHI, Pakistan — A jetliner carrying at least 98 people crashed Friday in a crowded neighborhood near the airport in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi after an apparent engine failure during landing. Officials said there were two survivors from the plane, but they also found at least 57 bodies in the wreckage.
It was unknown how many people on the ground were hurt as the Pakistan International Airlines jet, an Airbus A320, plowed into an alley and destroyed at least five houses.
The pilot was heard transmitting a mayday to the tower shortly before the crash of Flight 8303, which was flying from Lahore to Karachi and carrying many traveling for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.
Video on social media appeared to show the jet flying low with flames shooting from one of its engines.
So far 80 deaths have been confirmed, said Meeran Yousuf, spokeswoman for the provincial health ministry. At least two passengers on the Airbus SE A320 jet survived the impact, Sindh government spokesman Murtaza Wahab said in a tweet. One of them was Zafar Masud, president of the Bank of Punjab, he said.
“There was fire everywhere, and everyone was screaming after the crash. I opened my seatbelt, and headed towards the light,” Muhammad Zubair, another survivor, who was sitting in the eighth row, said on a local television broadcast.
The plane went down about 2:39 p.m. — during the last minute of the flight, according to Abdul Sattar Khokhar, a spokesperson for the aviation authority — northeast of Jinnah International Airport in the poor and congested residential area known as Model Colony between houses that were smashed by its wings.
The pilots in Friday’s crash reported losing power from both engines, according to a recording from LiveATC.net, which collects audio feeds from air-traffic controllers.
“Sir, we have lost engines,” the pilot said to a controller, according to the LiveATC recording.
About 30 seconds later, the pilot again radioed a distress call: “Mayday. Mayday. Mayday.”
Police in protective masks struggled to clear away crowds amid the smoke and dust so ambulances and fire trucks could reach the crash site.
Indian television channels showed large crowds packed into the neighborhood near the crash site, with people rushing toward ambulances as black smoke clogged the sky. One man carried a boy in his arms as he ran past journalists and emergency workers. Police officers and paramilitary rangers tried to disperse the crowds from the accident site.
As darkness fell, crews worked under floodlights, and a portable morgue was set up. The Sindh provincial health department said it had recovered 57 bodies, while PIA chairman Arshad Malik said finding all the dead could take two to three days.
Malik announced an investigation into the crash, adding that the aircraft was in good working order.
Pakistan had resumed domestic flights earlier this week ahead of Eid-al Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Pakistan has been in a countrywide lockdown since mid-March because of the novel coronavirus, and the airline has been using social distancing guidelines on its flights by leaving every other seat vacant.
Southern Sindh province, of which Karachi is the capital, is the epicenter of the virus infections in Pakistan. The province has nearly 20,000 of the country’s more than 50,000 cases.
Prime Minister Imran Khan tweeted: “Shocked & saddened by the PIA crash… Immediate inquiry will be instituted. Prayers & condolences go to families of the deceased.”
Science Minister Fawad Ahmed Chaudhry said this year has been a “catastrophe — just survival is so difficult,” with the pandemic and now the tragedy of the plane crash.
Most of the passengers were heading home to celebrate Eid-al Fitr, he said.
“What is most unfortunate and sad is whole families have died, whole families who were traveling together for the Eid holiday,” he said in a telephone interview in the capital of Islamabad.
Airworthiness documents showed the plane last received a government check on Nov. 1, 2019. PIA’s chief engineer signed a separate certificate April 28 saying all maintenance had been conducted. It said “the aircraft is fully airworthy and meets all the safety” standards.