KARACHI: At least 97 people killed and two people have survived the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane that crashed near the Jinna International Airport here on Friday, according to the province's health officials on Saturday.

Flight PK-8303 from Lahore crashed at the Jinnah Garden area near Model Colony in Malir, minutes before its landing in Karachi. The PIA Airbus A320 carrying 91 passengers and eight crew members had crash-landed into the Jinnah Housing Society located near the airport, a spokesperson of the national carrier said.

The plane lost contact with the air traffic control at 2.37 PM (local time), PIA spokesman Abdullah Hafeez said. He said that the passengers included 31 women and nine children.

All the bodies have been recovered from the spot, the Sindh Health Ministry said, adding that 19 had been identified, an international news agency reported. The site remained cordoned off on Saturday morning.

Thick black smoke rose from the accident scene in the Model Colony area. Faisal Edhi of the Edhi Welfare Trust said that around 25 to 30 residents whose houses were damaged by the plane have also been taken to the hospital, mostly with burn wounds. The aircraft wings during the crash landing hit the houses in the residential colony before crashing down.

The cause of the crash is yet to be confirmed. PIA chief executive Air Vice Marshal Arshad Malik said the pilot had told traffic control that the plane was experiencing "technical difficulties".

Watch CCTV footage of the flight crash-landing near Karachi:

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