A Pakistan International Airlines flight PK-8303 from Lahore,
with 99 members on board including the crew,
was on its way to Karachi. The flight was a minute away from reaching
the Jinnah International Airport.
One minute before reaching the flight crashed.
It crashed at Jinnah Garden area near Model Colony in Malir.
This place was very close to the airport.
The flight had crashed in a densely populated area.
Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority said that,
one minute before the flight crashed the pilot called the traffic control
and informed them that the engine had stopped working.
The flight badly crashed and damaged many buildings.
There was a huge fire with black smoke billowing in the sky.
Plumes of dark smoke made it difficult for ambulances to make their way through.
Have a look at the video.
When the flight crashed, a team of the Pakistan Army reached the spot to help rescue everyone.
Rescue operations were difficult due to the large crowds and narrow lanes.
25 homes were on fire, those injured have been reportedly taken to hospitals.
PIA CEO Arshad Malik said,
76 people have died so far.
It will take two days to know the total number of dead.
So far only one man has survived the crash.
He also stated that the aircraft has followed all protocols.
The cause of the crash is not known yet.
Flights are installed with a recording device,
that records all activities of the flight.
Once the flight recorder is found, more will be known about the crash.
Pakistan had stopped all its international flights due to the COVID-19 lockdown.
They had recently started their flights and now such an incident has happened.
However this is not the first time such an incident has occurred in Pakistan.
In 2016, one out of the two engines in the PIA flight stopped working
while the flight was near Islamabad.
The flight then crashed. 40 people had died.
In 2012, a Bhoja Air flight, crashed due to bad weather while trying to land in Rawalpindi.
All 121 passengers and 6 crew members died.
In 2010, Pakistan’s Air Blue flight crashed near Islamabad.
All the 152 people including crew members, died.
This was the most dangerous plane crash in the history of Pakistan.