- In a last-minute distress call, the pilot of a crashed passenger plane in Pakistan said the aircraft had engine problems.
- “We have lost two engines. Mayday, mayday, mayday. It is very serious,” the pilot can be heard saying, in audio published by an air traffic control monitoring site Live ATC.
- The plane, an Airbus A320, was operated by Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), and had 107 people on board.
- It crashed as it was coming in to land at Jinnah International Airport, near the city of Karachi.
- Air Vice Marshal Arshad Malik, the chief executive of PIA, said the pilot told air traffic control there were “technical difficulties.”
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A pilot on board a plane that crashed in Pakistan on Friday carrying 107 people warned of engine trouble in a final distress call.
“We have lost two engines. Mayday, mayday, mayday. It is very serious,” a pilot can be heard saying in audio published by Live ATC, a website which gives access to air traffic control radio transmissions.
The plane was an Airbus A320 that was operated by the state-run Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and was coming in to land at Jinnah International Airport from Lahore.
Sky News published the last seconds of the feed before it went dark:
'Mayday, mayday...'- Pakistan plane's last message from the pilot.
In the mayday call, the pilot can be heard saying that the plane has lost its engines.
There are 'no survivors' after the plane crash in Karachi, read more here: https://t.co/Xu6ZzKS2CE pic.twitter.com/mIraPV8SXb
— Sky News (@SkyNews) May 22, 2020
The plane lost contact with air traffic control just after 2:30 p.m. (4:30 a.m. ET.)
Air Vice Marshal Arshad Malik, the chief executive of PIA told the BBC that the pilot had reported "technical difficulties."
Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan tweeted he was "shocked and saddened by the PIA crash" and promised an "immediate inquiry."