Days after Pakistan allowed commercial flights to resume after easing some of the nation's Covid-19 coronavirus lockdown protocols, a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Airbus A-320 crashed into a residential area in the city of Karachi, resulting in at least 92 deaths. Flight PK8303 took off from the Lahore Airport in northern Pakistan, and was carrying 91 passengers and 7 crew members when attempting to land at the Jinnah International Airport at about 14:39 local time. There are currently 2 confirmed survivors. 

According to local media, the aircraft initially attempted a landing, but aborted the landing. The pilot later reported to air traffic control that the aircraft had "lost engines". An air traffic controlled offered a runway for an emergency landing, and asked for the pilot to "confirm your attempt on belly" to which the pilot replies "mayday, mayday, mayday Pakistan 8303" before the transmission was cut.

As of now, the cause of the crash is not yet known, though some civil aviation officials suggest that the aircraft may have been unable to lower its landing gear. Several social media outlets released images of scorch marks under both of the Airbus's engines along with no deployed gear. Investigations are currently ongoing, and investigators are currently attempting to locate the aircraft's blackbox.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan gave his condolences, and promised to investigate the crash. Other leaders from around the world including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani have also sent their condolences.

Airworthiness documents indicate that the PIA aircraft had last received a government inspection on November 1st, 2019. A separate certificated signed by PIA's chief engineer on April 28th stated that all maintenance had been successfully conducted, and the plane met all safety standards. According to figures from Airbus, in total, the aircraft had logged 25,860 flights and 47,100 flight hours.

Note: The first image of the photo is of an Airbus A-320, but is not of the plane that crashed today. The one depicted in the photo is of an aircraft from Iberia. All images used in this post are from the public domain, and do not require attribution or citation in any way, even for commercial purposes.