Miracle escape: Top banker, news anchor survived plane crash

NEW DELHI:  Lahore-based banker Zafar Masood and Director Programming 24 News Ansar Naqvi were among the passengers survived the fatal PIA plane crash in Karachi.

Masood’s family has confirmed that he survived the crash with minor injuries.

The president of the Pakistan based bank was among the nearly 100 people aboard a Pakistan International Airline (PIA) passenger plane from Lahore to Karachi that crashed minutes before landing at the Jinnah International Airport on Friday.

Masood was shifted to the Darul Sehat Hospital and is reportedly out of danger.

“So far i can confirm that two passengers on board the PIA plane have miraculously survived the crash. Their names are Zafar Masood and Mohhammad. Both are in stable condition. Keep praying for others,” tweeted Sindh government spokesperson Murtaza Wahab.

Sindh Information Minister Nasir Hussain Shah confirmed during a media talk that two passengers had survived and were brought to hospitals in injured condition.

Details of other passengers are awaited.

Footage showed plumes of smoke rising from the site of the crash within the congested residential area.

A witness told Dawn news that the plane was on fire in the air before crashing.

In Pakistan’s most recent deadly crash, a PIA plane in 2016 burst into flames after one of its two turboprop engines failed while flying from the remote north to Islamabad, killing more than 40 people.

The deadliest air disaster on Pakistani soil was in 2010, when an Airbus A321 operated by private airline Airblue and flying from Karachi crashed into the hills outside Islamabad as it came into land, killing all 152 people on board.