PIA Plane Crashes Into Karachi Neighborhood

A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) passenger plane, with an estimated 99 people onboard, crashed in Karachi's Model Colony near Jinnah International Airport on Friday.

What we know so far:

The pilot had communicated a technical difficulty to the air traffic control moments before the crash
The plane crashed a few hundred feet away from the runway
Rescue efforts currently underway; military personnel and rescue workers attempting to retrieve bodies from the rubble
Both survivors are in stable condition
The plane crashed less than a kilometre from the runway at the Karachi airport. — Dawn.com via Google Earth
PIA spokesperson Abdullah Hafeez said that the A320 Airbus was carrying 91 passengers and 8 crew members from Lahore to Karachi on PK 8303. Eyewitnesses said the Airbus A320 appeared to attempt to land two or three times before crashing in a residential area near the airport.

“The aeroplane first hit a mobile tower and crashed over houses,” witness Shakeel Ahmed said near the site, just a few kilometres short of the airport, according to Reuters.

Meeran Yousuf, the media coordinator for the Sindh health minister, confirmed to Dawn.com that two passengers had survived and were brought to hospitals. She identified the survivors as Zubair and Zafar Masood, who is the president of Bank of Punjab.

"Zubair has 35 per cent burns and is being treated at the [Dr Ruth Pfau] Civil Hospital Karachi, while Masood has four fractures and is being treated at the Darul Sehat Hospital," said Yousuf, adding that both were in stable condition. Moreover, she added that 17 victims had been identified so far.