- The passenger plane that crashed in
Pakistan on Friday carrying nearly 100 people hit a residential neighborhood, tearing through at least five or six houses. - Civil aviation officials have said at least two people survived the crash with injuries, but the exact number of casualties remains unclear.
- Photos and videos from the crash site showed charred, mangled buildings, with plumes of black smoke rising from the neighborhood.
- One witness said he saw the plane circle the area at least three times before it went down.
The plane that crashed in Pakistan on Friday, with roughly 100 passengers and crew aboard, struck a residential neighborhood and destroyed at least five or six houses, the mayor of Karachi said.
The exact number of casualties, both on the ground and in the plane, remains unclear, but officials said at least two, possibly three, people had survived the crash with injuries, according to the Associated Press.
Photos of the neighborhood after the crash showed a number of blackened, mangled buildings packed with bystanders and rescuers navigating through the rubble.
In a tweet on Friday, Mayor Wasim Akhtar estimated that "hundreds of families will be affected."
Videos posted to social media showed thick plumes of black smoke rising from the area.
—Ihtisham Ul Haq (@iihtishamm) May 22, 2020
The neighborhood, Model Colony, is roughly two miles from Karachi's airport. It's a crowded, poor area, according to the AP, so the damage could affect many people.
A transmission of the pilot's conversation with air traffic control revealed that the pilot had been circling the area after failing to land, and at one point said, "we have lost engine."
One of the neighborhood's residents, Abdul Rahman, told the Associated Press he witnessed the plane circling the area at least three times, apparently trying to land, before crashing into the houses.
Another resident, Amjad Shah, told The New York Times he awoke to the crash, which sounded "like a bomb exploding." He told the newspaper that authorities were trying to keep people away from the crash site, but the heavy crowds and narrow streets posed a challenge.
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