Karachi Plane Crash: Anupam, Raveena, Anil, Sania & others express condolences

Expressing condolences to the bereaved families, Bollywood celebrities like Anupam Kher, Anil Kapoor, Raveena Tandon, Anubhav Sinha, along with tennis star Sania Mirza on Friday, said that their prayers were with the families who lost their loved ones in the PIA plane crash in Karachi.

Many people are feared dead after a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane with 107 people on board crashed into a densely populated residential area near the Jinnah International Airport here on Friday, officials said, nearly a week after commercial flights were resumed on a limited scale amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. Flight PK-8303 from Lahore was about to land in Karachi when it crashed at the Jinnah Garden area near Model Colony in Malir, just a minute before its landing, they said.

The PIA Airbus A320 carrying 99 passengers and eight crew members crashed landed into the Jinnah housing society located near the airport, a spokesperson of the state carrier said.

Details of the plane crash

Minister of Health and Population Welfare has declared an emergency in all major hospitals of Karachi after the incident, Dawn news quoted Meeran Yousuf, the media coordinator to the Sindh health minister, as saying. Sources report that 40 people have been rescued till now. The crash has allegedly occurred due to a possible technical fault with the aircraft, as per the pilot's last message to the control tower, revealed PIA CEO Air Marshal Arshad Malik. Pakistani civil aviation officials say at least two people survived the crash of a domestic flight near Karachi - including Bank of Punjab CEO Zafar Masud, who has sustained fractures to his hip and collar bones.

(with PTI inputs)