Survivor tells of ‘turbulence’ and warning before Pakistan plane crash

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"1">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p>One of the two survivors of the Pakistan plane crash said the flight had proceeded normally until its descent&comma; when there was a sudden jolt&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Passenger Mohammad Zubair said the pilot had warned that the landing in Karachi would be &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<i>troublesome<&sol;i>” and the plane jolted violently&comma; which he thought was turbulence&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Moments later&comma; it slammed into a crowded neighbourhood on the edge of the international airport&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Authorities said Friday’s crash killed 97 people&comma; all of them passengers and crew members&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Pakistan International Airlines flight was carrying people returning home for Eid al-Fitr&comma; a major holiday marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Provincial health department spokeswoman Meeran Yousaf said only 19 bodies have been identified so far and that most of the victims were badly burned&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Eight people on the ground were injured&comma; including four who are still in hospital&comma; and all residents are accounted for&comma; she said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The plane crashed near Jinnah International Airport&comma; in the poor and congested residential area known as Model Colony&period; PIA spokesman Abdullah Hafiz Khan said the aircraft destroyed or heavily damaged 18 homes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Abdul Sattar Kokhar said the Airbus A230 was carrying 91 passengers and eight crew members&period; The only other survivor of the crash was Zafar Masood&comma; a bank executive&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In a telephone interview from his hospital bed&comma; Mr Zubair&comma; a mechanical engineer&comma; said flight PK8308 had taken off on time from the eastern city of Lahore at 1pm local time&period; It was a smooth&comma; uneventful flight until the aircraft began its descent shortly before 3pm&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<i>Suddenly the plane jerked violently&comma; once and then again&comma;<&sol;i>” he said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The aircraft turned and the pilot’s voice came over the intercom&period; They were experiencing engine trouble and the landing could be &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<i>troublesome<&sol;i>”&comma; the pilot said&period; That was the last thing Mr Zubair remembered until he woke up in a scene of chaos&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<i>I saw so much smoke and fire&period; I heard people crying&comma; children crying<&sol;i>&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He managed to crawl out of the smoke and rubble&comma; and was eventually lifted from the ground and rushed to an ambulance&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Pakistan had only resumed domestic flights earlier this week&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Many of the passengers on board were families returning home for the holiday&comma; said Science Minister Fawad Ahmed Chaudhry&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Between the coronavirus pandemic and the plane crash&comma; this year has been a &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<i>catastrophe<&sol;i>”&comma; he added&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<i>What is most unfortunate and sad is whole families have died&comma; whole families who were travelling together for the Eid holiday&comma;<&sol;i>” he told the Associated Press&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Social media and local news reports said Zara Abid&comma; an actor and award-winning model&comma; was among those killed&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A senior banker&comma; his wife and three young children were also reportedly killed&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Shabaz Hussein&comma; whose mother died in the crash&comma; told AP that he had identified her body at a local hospital and was waiting to take it away for burial&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Pakistan has been in a countrywide lockdown since mid-March because of the coronavirus&comma; and when flights resumed every other seat was left empty to promote social distancing&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Southern Sindh province&comma; of which Karachi is the capital&comma; is the epicentre of Pakistan’s outbreak&comma; with nearly 20&comma;000 of the country’s more than 50&comma;000 cases&period; Pakistan has reported 1&comma;101 deaths from Covid-19s&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A transmission of the pilot’s final exchange with air traffic control&comma; posted on the website LiveATC&period;net&comma; indicated that he had failed to land and was circling to make another attempt&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<i>We are proceeding direct&comma; sir – we have lost engine&comma;<&sol;i>” the pilot said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<i>Confirm your attempt on belly<&sol;i>&comma;” the air traffic controller said&comma; offering a runway&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<i>Sir&comma; mayday&comma; mayday&comma; mayday&comma; mayday Pakistan 8303&comma;<&sol;i>” the pilot said before the transmission ended&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>PIA chairman Arshad Malik told reporters in Karachi on Friday that an independent inquiry would be held but said the aircraft was in good working order&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Airworthiness documents showed the plane last received a government check on November 1 2019&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>PIA’s chief engineer signed a separate certificate April 28 saying all maintenance had been carried out&period; It said &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<i>the aircraft is fully airworthy and meets all the safety<&sol;i>” standards&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Ownership records for the Airbus A320 showed China Eastern Airlines flew the plane from 2004 until 2014&period; The plane then entered PIA’s fleet&comma; leased from GE Capital Aviation Services&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Airbus said the plane had logged 47&comma;100 flight hours and 25&comma;860 flights as of Friday&period; The plane had two CFM56-5B4 engines&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Airbus said it would provide technical assistance to investigators in France and Pakistan&comma; as well as the airline and engine manufacturers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<i>We at Airbus are deeply saddened by the tragic news of flight &num;PK8303<&sol;i>&comma;” tweeted executive director Guillaume Faury&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;In aviation&comma; we all work hard to prevent this&period; Airbus will provide full assistance to the investigating authorities&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68e1edc372dce">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; function &lpar;&rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;if &lpar; 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