Pakistan crash: plane carrying 98 people goes down in Karachi
- Images showed the Pakistan International Airlines flight from Lahore smashed into a residential area
- The incident occurred just days after Pakistan resumed commercial flights following coronavirus lockdown
The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane was close to landing when it came down among houses, sending plumes of smoke into the air that could be seen from some distance away.
Rescue workers and local residents pulled people from the debris, as firefighters tried to put out the flames.
PIA spokesman Abdullah Hafeez said there were 91 passengers and seven crew on board the flight, which lost contact with air traffic control just after 2.30pm.
“It is too early to comment on the cause of the crash,” he said.
Mayor Wasim Akhtar said at least five or six houses were destroyed in the crash of the flight. He said all those on board died, but two civil aviation officials later said that at least two people survived the crash.
Abdul Sattar Khokhar, of the country’s aviation authority, said the Airbus A320 was travelling from Lahore to Karachi.
Seemin Jamali, a director from Jinnah Post Graduate Medical College in the city, said eight dead and 15 injured people had been brought to the facility.