A plane carrying 107 people aboard has crashed near a residential area in the Pakistani metropolis of Karachi.
According to the city’s mayor, Wasim Akhtar, everyone on board has lost their lives. That’s what the AP writes. He also says the plane struck at least five to six buildings when it crashed.
The country’s aviation authorities are working to confirm the number of passengers, but in principle there are 99 passengers and eight crew members, said Abdul Sattar Khokhar, spokesman for the country’s aviation authorities, according to the BBC.
The aircraft is from Pakistan International Airlines (PIA ed.).
According to TV 2 correspondent Simi Jan, who has lived in Pakistan himself, the plane should have crashed in the Model Colony area, which is about a kilometer from Jinnah International Airport.
– Karachi is a metropolis. Everything is densely populated here. We see pictures in the local media of people being carried away. The question then is whether they are wounded or killed, she tells TV 2.
– It is one of the first domestic flights in the country since the corona crisis broke out. Otherwise, all air traffic has been canceled internally in the country.
According to the AP News Agency, witnesses say the plane attempted to land two or three times before crashing near the airport.
It’s something that fits nicely with the story in the local media.
– About a minute before the crash, the connection to the aircraft was lost and the captain reported technical problems, so it is very likely that he had tried to land, says Simi Jan.
The AP news agency also writes that the captain called in a mayday and reported that one of his engines was off.
Reuters writes that this is an Airbus A320 with flight number PK 8303 and that the plane was on its way from Lahore to Jinnah International Airport.
