One of the survivors of Friday’s plane crash in the Pakistani city of Karachi has described his ordeal, saying all he could see “was fire”.
Passenger Muhammad Zubair was one of at least two passengers who survived after the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Airbus A320 came down in a residential area.
Health authorities in Sindh province said 97 deaths had been confirmed.
The cause of the crash is not yet known.
But one civil aviation official told Reuters the plane may have been unable to lower its undercarriage.
Images posted on social media appeared to show scorch marks under both engines, with no undercarriage visible on approach.
The crash came days after Pakistan allowed commercial flights to resume after the country’s coronavirus lockdown was eased.
How did Muhammad Zubair escape?
Flight PK8303, an Airbus A320 carrying 91 passengers and eight crew – including many families travelling ahead of Sunday’s Eid holiday – had travelled from Lahore.
It was attempting to land at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport at about 14:30 local time (09:30 GMT) when it came down.
Mr Zubair, who suffered only minor injuries, said the plane attempted one landing and then crashed 10-15 minutes later.
“No-one was aware that the plane was about to crash; they were flying the plane in a smooth manner,” he said.
He lost consciousness following the crash. When he came to, he said, “I could hear screams from all directions. Kids and adults. All I could see was fire. I couldn’t see any people – just hear their screams”.
“I opened my seatbelt and saw some light – I went towards the light. I had to jump down about 10ft (3m) to get to safety,” he added.
source:BBC
