Karachi:
It has been five years since the Pakistan International Airlines PK-8303 flight crashed near the Karachi International Airport, claiming 97 lives and leaving painful stories of survival and loss.
On May 22, 2020, in the midst of the Restrictions of COVID-19, the flight PK-8303 took off from Lahore for Karachi with 91 passengers and 8 crew members on board, a lot of return home to celebrate Eid-Ul-Fitr. However, the plane never went safely until its destination.
According to official conclusions, the plane tried to land at the Jinnah terminal, but its landing gear was not deployed. The two engines scratched the track several times during the first landing attempt, flying sparks. Instead of performing a belly landing, the pilot opted for a postponement, a decision which was ultimately proved to be fatal.
In the last moments, the captain launched a May call. Cockpit recordings and flight data revealed that the crew had violated the standard descent protocols near Nawabshah and Makli, now higher than the altitude and speed indicated during the approach.
Airbus A320, weighing 80 tonnes, separated and crashed into the densely populated residential area of Jinnah Garden. The thunderous noise of the collapse of metal, falling pieces and the bursting of fuel paints a scene of apocalypse.
One of the few survivors on the ground, Sohail Asghar, said the traumatic moments of L’Express PK Press Club.
Friday, fateful afternoon, shortly after offering prayers to Jumuah, he had just sit in his car parked in front of his house to go shopping for Iftar.
The engine had barely started and the door remained open when it heard a disturbing roar, grinding and growled unlike everything it had ever heard. Pancked and unable to understand what was going on, Asghar threw himself on a small garden plot next to his house.
A few seconds later, the inflamed metal shards, the heavy aircraft parts and the boiling jet fuel began to rain from the sky. “Everything was burning. The alley was wrapped in thick black smoke. My cries were probably drowned in chaos,” he said.
Invisible for him, two young neighbors had noticed Asghar for a few moments before going out. Hearing the accident, they rushed through the smoke and dragged it inside their house.
Rescue officials were finally alerted and Asghar was transferred to the hospital. He stayed under treatment for almost eight months.
Even today, says Asghar, he has trouble seeing this memory again. He no longer lives in Jinnah’s garden, after moving after the unbearable trauma.
