Pakistan International Airlines flight from Lahore crashes near Karachi airport

Pakistan International Airlines flight from Lahore crashes near Karachi airport. Pakistani media report that the PIA aircraft which crashed was an A320 carrying more than 100 people.

According to the spokesperson of Civil aviation Division, Pakistan, there were 99 passengers in the PIA flight number PK-8303 & 8 members of Crew Staff, total 107 persons were in the plane. The aircraft crashed near a residential colony near Karachi airport; more details are awaited.

Flight PK-303 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, Geo News reported

The fate of the people was not immediately known.

The CAA sources said that its communication with the plane was cut off one minute before its landing.

Several houses have been damaged in the area where the aircraft crashed.

A statement by the Pakistan Army's media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that Army Quick Reaction Force and Sindh Pakistan Rangers reached the spot for carrying out rescue and relief operations alongside civil administration.

Minister of Health and Population Welfare has declared 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.

Meanwhile the videos and pictures of the site shared on social media platforms show that the damage has been severe:

with PTI inputs