Pakistan plane with 107 passengers crashes near Karachi

Karachi : A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane with 107 passengers on board crashed in the area near Jinnah International Airport on Friday, according to Civil Aviation Authority officials. The flight was on its way from Lahore to Karachi.

Geo News reported that the plane crashed at the Jinnah Ground area near the airport as it was approaching for landing. 

Huge clouds of black smoke were seen by the eye witnesses.

With the visuals seen, it is unlikely that passengers may have survived in the crash. The aircraft arriving from the eastern city of Lahore was carrying 99 passengers and 8 crew members, news agency AP said, quoting Abdul Sattar Kokhar, spokesman for the country’s civil aviation authority.

According to the witnesses, Airbus A320 crashed after making 2-3 attempts of landing. 

Local television reports showed smoke coming from the direction of the airport. Ambulances were on their way to the airport.

News agency PTI said Sindh’s Ministry of Health and Population Welfare has declared emergency in all major hospitals of Karachi due to the plane crash.

It’s the second plane crash for Pakistani carrier in less than four years. The airline’s chairman resigned in late 2016, less than a week after the crash of an ATR-42 aircraft killed 47 people. The incident comes as Pakistan was slowly resuming domestic flights in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, Bloomberg reported.