Survivor describes ‘sudden jolt’ before Pakistan plane crash

ONE of the two survivors of the Pakistan plane crash said the flight had proceeded normally until its descent, when there was a sudden jolt.

Passenger Mohammad Zubair said the pilot had warned that the landing in Karachi would be “troublesome” and the plane jolted violently, which he thought was turbulence.

Moments later, it slammed into a crowded neighbourhood on the edge of the international airport.

Authorities said Friday’s crash killed 97 people, all of them passengers and crew members.

The Pakistan International Airlines flight was carrying people returning home for Eid al-Fitr, a major holiday marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Provincial health department spokeswoman Meeran Yousaf said only 19 bodies have been identified so far and that most of the victims were badly burned.

Three people on the ground were reportedly injured, and rescue crews were still sifting through the rubble on Saturday.

Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Abdul Sattar Kokhar said the Airbus A230 was carrying 91 passengers and eight crew members. The only other survivor of the crash was Zafar Masood, a bank executive.

In a telephone interview from his hospital bed, Mr Zubair, a mechanical engineer, said flight PK8308 had taken off on time from the eastern city of Lahore at 1pm local time. It was a smooth, uneventful flight until the aircraft began its descent shortly before 3pm.

“Suddenly the plane jerked violently, once and then again,” he said.

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 Mr 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 managed to crawl out of the smoke and rubble, and was eventually lifted from the ground and rushed to an ambulance.

Pakistan had only resumed domestic flights earlier this week.

Many of the passengers on board were families returning home for the holiday, said science minister Fawad Ahmed Chaudhry.

Between the coronavirus pandemic and the plane crash, this year has been a “catastrophe”, he added.

“What is most unfortunate and sad is whole families have died, whole families who were travelling together for the Eid holiday,” he told the Associated Press. Social media and local news reports said Zara Abid, an actor and award-winning model, was among those killed.

A senior banker, his wife and three young children were also reportedly killed.

Shabaz Hussein, whose mother died in the crash, told AP that he had identified her body at a local hospital and was waiting to take it away for burial.

Pakistan has been in a countrywide lockdown since mid-March because of coronavirus, and when flights resumed every other seat was left empty to promote social distancing.