By Adil Jawad, Karachi PAKISTAN
A passenger plane belonging to state-run airline Pakistani International
Airlines has crashed near the southern port city of Karachi, according to Abdul
Sattar Kokhar, spokesman for the country's civil aviation authority.
There were no immediate reports
on the number of casualties. The aircraft arriving from the eastern city of
Lahore was carrying 99 passengers and eight crew members, Kokhar said.
Witnesses said the Airbus A320
appeared to attempt to land two or three times before crashing in a residential
area near Jinnah International Airport. The residential area on the edge of the
airport known as Model Colony is a poor area and heavily congested.
A resident of the area, Abdul
Rahman, said he saw the aircraft circle at least three times, appearing to try
to land at the airport before it crashed into several houses.
Police and military had cordoned off the area.
Local television reports showed
smoke coming from the direction of the airport. Ambulances were on their way to
the airport.
Airbus did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the crash. The flight typically takes an hour and a half to travel from the northeastern city of Lahore, the capital of Pakistan's most populous Punjab province to Karachi.
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