A PIA aircraft with 99 passengers and eight crew members on board crashed on Friday in a residential area of the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, officials said.
The Pakistani army said its quick reaction force and paramilitary troops have reached the site for relief and rescue efforts alongside civil administration.
Images shown on national television showed the Pakistan International Airlines flight had smashed into a residential area. Several houses have been damaged in the area where the aircraft crashed.
“The plane crashed in Karachi. We are trying to confirm the number of passengers but initially it is 99 passengers and eight crew members,” said Abdul Sattar Khokhar, the spokesman for the country’s aviation authority, adding that the flight was coming from Lahore.
Officials of Pakistan Army Quick Reaction Force and Pakistan Rangers Sindh arrived at the crash site shortly to assist the civil administration in relief and rescue efforts.
It comes just days after the country began allowing commercial flights to resume.
