Jet passenger recalls warnings

Crash into neighborhood kills 97, leaving only two survivors

KARACHI, Pakistan — When the plane jolted violently, Mohammad Zubair thought it was turbulence. Then the pilot came on the intercom to warn that the landing could be “troublesome.”

Moments later, the Pakistan International Airlines flight crashed into a crowded neighborhood near Karachi’s international airport, killing 97 people, all of whom are believed to be passengers and crew members. Zubair was one of two surviving passengers.

Meeran Yousaf, the provincial Health Department spokeswoman, said that only 21 of the bodies from Friday’s crash have been identified and that most of the bodies were badly burned. Eight people on the ground were injured. Three remained hospitalized, and all residents are accounted for, she said.

The plane crashed at 2:39 p.m. near Jinnah International Airport, in the poor and congested residential area known as Model Colony. PIA spokesman Abdullah Hafiz Khan said the aircraft destroyed or damaged 18 homes.

Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Abdul Sattar Kokhar said the Airbus A320 was carrying 91 passengers and eight crew members. The other survivor of the crash was Zafar Masood, a bank executive.

In a telephone interview from his hospital bed, Zubair, a mechanical engineer, said flight PK8303 had taken off on time at 1 p.m. from the eastern city of Lahore. It was a smooth, uneventful flight until the aircraft began its descent near Karachi shortly before 3 p.m.

He said the aircraft made three attempts to land, once seeming to almost land and then take off again.

“Suddenly the plane jerked violently, once and then again,” said Zubair. The aircraft turned and the pilot’s voice came over the intercom. They were experiencing engine trouble, and the landing could be “troublesome,” the pilot said. That was the last thing Zubair remembered until he woke up in a scene of chaos.

“I saw so much smoke and fire. I heard people crying, children crying.”

He crawled his way out of the smoke and rubble and was pulled from the ground and rushed into an ambulance.

“I’m very thankful to Allah for granting me a second life,” he said. “It is a miracle.”

Pakistan had only earlier this week resumed domestic flights ahead of Eid-al Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Many of the passengers aboard the flight were families returning home for the holiday, Science Minister Fawad Ahmed Chaudhry said.

“What is most unfortunate and sad is whole families have died, whole families who were traveling together for the Eid holiday,” he said.

Mohammad Zubair