The official sources say that passengers survived out of total 89 including seven crew members in plane crash.
KARACHI: (UrduPoint/Pakistan Point News-May 23nd , 2020) At least 97 were killed and dozens others injured after a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane crashed with nearly 100 people on board in Karachi on Friday.
According to Spokesperson for the Sindh Health Department, several others feared dead.
PIA plane crashed at the moment when it was close to landing and it hit houses sparking an explosion and killing several people on the ground.
PIA flights PK-8303took off from Lahore Allama Iqbal International Airport and crashed in Model Colony area in Malir, about 4 kilometers away from the airport.
The officials said that the plane came to rest about 2:39pm in a narrow alley in the poor and congested residential area known as Model Colony between houses smashed by its wings.
After it crashed, police and rescue service reached o the spot. The police continued to clear crowds amid the smoke and dust so ambulances and firetrucks could reach the spot. Army, Rangers and Police units arrived at the scene and emergency was declared at Jinnah Hospital.
The rescue workers under floodlights to recover bodies amid darkness that spread soon after the crash and a portable morgue was set up. Two passengers miraculously survived.
The plane smashed into residential area before coming down on the ground, with clouds of think smoke spreading in the air.
According to audio conversation between Captain of the ill-fated plane and control tower in which pilot could be heard, saying that they had ‘lost two engines’. Later, he gave ‘mayday’ call.
It was an Airbus 320 which has capacity to carry around 180 passengers, however, number of passengers were kept at 50% capacity limit to ensure social distancing measures.
According to the PIA officials, passengers included 51 male, 31 female and nine children. Chairman Punjab Bank Zafar Masood, senior journalist Ansar Naqvi and model Zara Abid were also travelling in the same flight.
The pilot of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight PK 8303 is heard saying he has lost both engines and then "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday," the international distress message in the final moments of the conversation with the air-traffic controllers
A PIA official said that in the last conversation with the control tower, the pilot talked about technical problem including the loss of both the engines.
A recording of conversation between the airport control tower and the pilot just before the crash confirmed engine failure. "I have lost one engine, May Day, May Day," said the pilot. The control tower informed the pilot that both the runways were available for landing." Then the tower lost the contact.
The rescuers have recovered the black box of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight PK 8303 which crashed into a residential area of Karachi, with many feared dead.
According to sources, the plane s black box, which contains cockpit audio recordings and technical flight data, has been recovered by investigators.
Sources said that the black box has been handed over Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
The pilot talked about technical problem including the loss of both the engines during conversation.
Masud escaped with relatively minor injuries after the plane crashed into houses in a residential area close to Jinnah International Airport.
A baby was pulled alive from the Pakistan plane crash impact area. The baby from a family in the community of Model Colony was buried under rubble caused by the impact of the crash.
