Pakistan International Airlines flight 8303, an Airbus A320, crashed on approach to Karachi-Jinnah International Airport (KHI), Pakistan. The airline stated there were 99 passengers on board and 8 crew members. The flight departed Lahore at 13:05 hours local time (08:05 UTC) and was expected to arrive at Karachi about 14:45 (09:45 UTC).
The aircraft was cleared to land on runway 25L. At 14:35 the flight crew radioed that they were going around and requested another ILS approach to runway 25L. The controller instructed the flight to turn left heading 110 and climb to 3000 feet.
Four minutes later the flight reported they had “lost engine(s)” and subsequently declared a Mayday. The controller cleared the flight to land with both runways (25L and 25R) available.
The aircraft crashed in a residential area named Model Colony, about 1360 m short of the threshold of runway 25L. The aircraft broke up and a large post-impact fire erupted.
At least 97 people have been killed after an Airbus A320 passenger airliner crashed into a residential neighbourhood while on approach to the airport in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, officials say.
At least two male passengers of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight PK-8303 from the eastern city of Lahore to Karachi survived the crash on Friday, a health ministry spokeswoman
Officials involved in the rescue operation reported that 97 bodies have been recovered and that two passengers have survived the accident.
Health ministry spokeswoman Meeran Yousuf told Al Jazeera by telephone that 97 people have died, with 66 bodies kept at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi’s largest government hospital and 31 at Civil Hospital Karachi, another leading state-run hospital.
Yousuf said the two survivors were being treated at the hospitals in Karachi, while 19 bodies have been identified so far.
“Zubair has 35% burns and is being treated at the [Dr Ruth Pfau] Civil Hospital Karachi, while Masood has four fractures and is being treated at the Darul Sehat Hospital,” Yousuf told Dawn. She said both are in stable condition.
Yousuf also said that of the 97 dead, 19 victims have been identified so far.
Several people who were on the ground when the airliner crashed into houses in the densely populated Model Colony area of Karachi, adjacent to the city’s international airport, were being treated for their injuries, she added.
Faisal Edhi of the Edhi Welfare Trust said on Friday that at least 25 houses have been damaged. “The first priority is to rescue the people,” he said. “The main hurdle is narrow streets and presence of ordinary people who gathered at the place after the crash but they have been dispersed.”
The Pakistan government has set up a four-member board of inquiry to determine the cause of the crash. Pakistan International Airlines Chief Executive Officer Air Marshal Arshad Malik said that the pilot of the aircraft told Air Traffic Control that there was a technical problem, and chose to go around instead of landing on either of the two runways that were available
The incident occurred days after the Pakistan government allowed commercial flights to resume operations. The planes were grounded due to the lockdown to tackle the coronavirus spread.
