Pakistani authorities say 97 bodies have been recovered from plane crash in Karachi; one of the two survivors tells his story
Before it crashed, the plane jolted violently in mid-air. Passenger Muhammad Zubair thought it was turbulence. Then the pilot came on the intercom to warn the plane was experiencing engine trouble and the landing could be"troublesome.
" In a telephone interview from his hospital bed, Zubair, one of only two survivors, told The Associated Press that Pakistan International Airlines flight PK8303 had taken off on time from the eastern city of Lahore at 1 p.m. It was a smooth, uneventful flight until the aircraft began its descent near Karachi."When the plane caught fire. I unfastened my seatbelt and saw a light. I came out of the plane, I jumped from nearly 10 feet high," he said in aCivil Aviation Authority spokesman Abdul Sattar Kokhar said the Airbus A230 was carrying 91 passengers and eight crew members. The only survivors of the crash were Zafar Masood, a bank executive, and Zubair, a mechanical engineer."Rescue Op in progress by Army Search & Rescue Team, Army troops, Rangers & social welfare orgs. 97 bodies recovered. 2 passengers survived," it stated in the tweet. "25 affected houses cleared, their residents accommodated at various places with assistance of Civil Administration."The plane crashed near Jinnah International Airport, in the poor, congested residential area known as Model Colony. PIA spokesman Abdullah Hafiz Khan said the aircraft destroyed or heavily damaged 18 homes. After the crash, Zubair awoke in a scene of chaos. “I saw so much smoke and fire," he told the AP. "I heard people crying, children crying."Journalist Mansoor Ali KhanIn one video, people can be heard shouting in the street as a whistle blows, amid dangling power cords, black plumes of smoke and fire. Meeran Yousaf, the provincial Health Department spokeswoman, said 21 of the bodies from Friday's crash have been identified. Most were badly burned. Eight people on the ground were injured, including three who are still hospitalized. All residents are accounted for, she said. Because of the condition of the victims' bodies, officials were relying on DNA testing to identify them,Pakistan had only earlier this week resumed domestic flights ahead of Eid-al Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Many of the passengers aboard the flight were returning home for the holiday, said Science Minister Fawad Ahmed Chaudhry.“What is most unfortunate and sad is whole families have died, whole families who were traveling together for the Eid holiday,” he told The Associated Press. Social media and local news reports said Zara Abid, an actor and model, was among those killed. A banker, his wife and three young children were also reportedly killed. Shabaz Hussein, whose mother died in the crash, told The Associated Press he identified her body at a local hospital and was waiting to take it away for burial. Pakistan has been in a countrywide lockdown since mid-March because of the coronavirus, and when flights resumed every other seat was left vacant to promote social distancing. Southern Sindh province, of which Karachi is the capital, is the epicenter of Pakistan's outbreak, with nearly 20,000 of the country’s cases, according to the AP. Pakistan has upwards of 52,000 cases of coronavirus and about 1,100 deaths, according to
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