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Video: Pakistan’s PIA aircraft with at least 100 passengers onboard crashes in Karachi

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PIA plane crashes, Pakistan, Karachi, Lahore, plane crash

Dubai - The plane was carrying 99 passengers and eight crew members and was flying from Lahore to Karachi.

By Staff Report

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Published: Fri 22 May 2020, 2:20 PM

Last updated: Thu 28 May 2020, 10:46 AM

A PIA aircraft with around 100 people on board crashed on Friday in a residential area of the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, officials said.

The Pakistani army said its quick reaction force and paramilitary troops have reached the site for relief and rescue efforts alongside civil administration.
Also see: PIA plane crash survivors moved to hospitals
Images shown on national television showed the Pakistan International Airlines flight had smashed into a residential area. Several houses have been damaged in the area where the aircraft crashed.
Also read: PM Imran Khan 'shocked' by PIA crash
Pakistan's civil aviation authority said the plane carried 91 passengers and a crew of seven. Earlier, the airport in the northeastern city of Lahore had said 107 were on board.
According to officials, at least three passengers had survived the crash, including a bank CEO and an engineer, who had been hospitalised for treatment.
'Mayday, Mayday'
After the aircraft reportedly called off an earlier attempt to land and went around for a second attempt, a controller radioed the pilot of flight 8303 that he appeared to be turning left, suggesting he was off-course.
The pilot replied, "We are returning back, sir, we have lost engines," and the controller cleared the plane to land on either of Karachi airport's two West-Southwest-facing runways.

Pilot: We are proceeding direct, we  have lost the engines.
ATC: Confirm you are carrying out a belly landing?
Pilot: (Unclear)
ATC: Runway available to land on 2 5
Pilot: Roger
Pilot: Sir, Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, Pakistan 8303
ATC: Pakistan 8303. Roger Sir. Both runways are available to land.
Also read: Pilot made 'Mayday' call before plane crash
"The plane crashed in Karachi. We are trying to confirm the number of passengers but initially it is 99 passengers and eight crew members," said Abdul Sattar Khokhar, the spokesman for the country's aviation authority, adding that the flight was coming from Lahore.
Officials of Pakistan Army Quick Reaction Force and Pakistan Rangers Sindh arrived at the crash site shortly to assist the civil administration in relief and rescue efforts.
It comes just days after the country began allowing commercial flights to resume.


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