Scores feared dead as passenger jet crashes in Pakistan

Reports of survivors were not detailed.

Scores feared dead as passenger jet crashes in Pakistan
passenger jet crashes in Pakistan

Pakistani officials said a passenger jet crashed Friday in the city of Karachi. Videos posted online showed fire and smoke on the ground and several homes had reportedly caught fire. A spokesman from the country's flagship carrier Pakistan International Airlines told the Reuters news agency that flight PK 8303 went down carrying 99 passengers and 8 crew. 

There was no initial word of any survivors. A video shared online by Pakistan's GEO TV showed an emergency crew trying to reach the scene through rubble, with flames still visible in the background. Others showed huge clouds of black smoke billowing up between tightly packed buildings in a residential neighborhood.

 

 

"The plane crashed in Karachi," said Abdul Sattar Khokhar, the spokesman for the country's aviation authority, adding that the flight had been flying to Karachi from Lahore.

The crash came just days after the country began allowing commercial flights to resume after planes were grounded during a lockdown over the coronavirus pandemic.

Pakistan has a chequered military and civilian aviation safety record, with frequent plane and helicopter crashes over the years.

In 2016, a Pakistan International Airlines plane burst into flames after one of its two turboprop engines failed while flying from the remote northern to Islamabad, killing more than 40 people.

The crash comes as Pakistanis across the country are preparing to celebrate the end of Ramadan and the beginning of Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr, with many traveling back to their homes in cities and villages.

 

CBS News