Pakistan Airlines plane with over 100 onboard crashes near Karachi
Islamabad, May 22 (efe-epa).- A Pakistan International Airlines passenger flight with over 100 people on board crashed on Friday as it was about to land near a residential area close to the airport in the port city of Karachi, a civil aviation official said.
There was no immediate word about any survivors from the crash, which took place near Karachi’s Model Colony area.
The Airbus A320 took off from the eastern city of Lahore and was about to land at Karachi’s Jinnah international airport when it crashed and burst into flames around 2.30 PM.
“The plane crashed close to the Karachi airport. It was just one minute away from the airport and fell on a residential area,” Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority spokesperson Abdul Sattar told EFE.
“An emergency response protocol has been activated,” he said.
The Civil Aviation Ministry said the flight was carrying 99 passengers and eight crew members.
“I cannot say (anything) about the damages at the moment. We cannot say the reason also as it is too early (to ascertain that),” Sattar said.
Civil Aviation Minister Ghulam Serwar has initiated an investigation into the crash.
Online videos and pictures purportedly from the crash site showed plumes of smoke rising from what looked like a cluster of residential houses amid shrieks and sobs of wailing men and women.
The Karachi administration put the city’s main hospitals on alert for emergency medical aid to survivors.
Ambulances and rescue officials arrived at the site to help residents while the Pakistan Army flew in its helicopters for rescue efforts.
The army’s media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said in a tweet that its Quick Reaction Force and Sindh Pakistan Rangers had arrived at the site for relief and rescue efforts alongside civil administration.
Pakistan experienced one of its worst air tragedies in 2012 when 138 people died in a plane crash near Islamabad.
A PIA flight carrying 48 passengers and crew had crashed on the way to Islamabad from Chitral in the north on Dec. 7, 2016, with no survivors. EFE-EPA
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