Pakistan Airlines Airbus A320 with 100 Onboard Crashes

An Airbus A320 airplane operated by Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) carrying around 100 people crashed in a congested residential area near Karachi Airport on Friday afternoon.

The Lahore-Karachi PK 803 flight allegedly crashed a minute away from the airport.

“Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa condoles loss of precious lives in tragic PIA plane crash. COAS shares grief of bereaved families in this difficult time. COAS directed provision of full assistance to civil administration in rescue/ relief effort,” Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), media wing of Pakistan’s armed forces tweeted, confirming the accident.

Footage being shared on social media showed plumes of smoke rising from the site of the crash.

The plane was on fire before it crashed, eyewitnesses were quoted as saying by Pakistani media.

“PIA flight PK8303 from Lahore crashed during landing in Karachi. The aircraft involved is a 15 year old Airbus A320 with registration AP-BLD. Flight PK8303 took off from Lahore at 08:05. At 09:34 the aircraft made a landing attempt that was aborted at 275 feet and the aircraft climbed up to 3175 feet. Signal was lost at 09:40 at 525 feet. All times are UTC,” Flightradar24, a global flight tracking service tweeted.

Earlier this week, PIA in its annual report said it increased its revenue by 43% to PKR148 billion in 2019.