AMN / KARACHI / WEB DESK
A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight PK-8303 crashed in a residential area near Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport a few moments before landing on Friday evening.
It is estimated that at least 98 people were aboard the plane, including 85 passengers.
PIA emergency response desk has begun work and is gathering details from the families of the passengers who were on board the flight.
According to the Civil Aviation Authority, the flight from Lahore was about to land in Karachi when it crashed in the Jinnah Garden area near Model Colony in Malir.
According to Geo News, Executive Director Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) Seemin Jamali, 17 bodies were brought to the hospital along with six injured people.
One of the wounded was badly burned and has been shifted to the burn ward of the hospital.
Among the injured are women, men, and reportedly, a seven-year-old boy. They are said to be residents of the area where the crash took place.
It is not yet confirmed whether the deceased were on board the flight or were area residents.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has promised an “immediate inquiry” into the matter and said that he is in touch with PIA chief executive Arshad Malik. He said rescue and relief efforts are the “priority right now”.
Soon after the crash, Sindh Minister of Health & Population Welfare declared an emergency in all major hospitals of Karachi.
Speaking to the media outside Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Sindh Health Minister Azra Pechuho said that it was still to early to ascertain the number of people that had been injured in the crash.
“Eleven bodies have been brought to the hospital and six injured. Out of the injured, four are stable and two are burns cases.”
She added that officials were currently in the process of identifying the deceased in order to inform their families.
“We don’t know how many are injured and how many are dead. I am visiting hospitals […] we were already in an emergency situation due to Covid-19 so doctors were alert. We have also alerted surgical units,” she said.
