作者： bharat.cn

The pilot of the ill-fated Pakistan International Airlines flight that crashed today in Karachi indicated moments before the disaster that he was facing problems with the plane’s engines. The pilot communicated this to controllers at the Air Traffic Control at Karachi airport with whom he was in touch (an audio recording and a transcipt of the coversation can be found at the end of this story).

The Lahore-Karachi Pakistan International Airlines Flight 8303 had around 100 people, including crew onboard. The plane, an Airbus A320, crashed in a residential area just outside the Karachi airport moments before landing on Friday afternoon. Several are feared killed but official word on casualties is awaited.

According to snatches of pilot-ATC communication put out by Pakistani media, the plane reported some sort of engine trouble moments before the crash. The pilot told controllers at the Karachi airport ATC that he had “lost engine”.

Hearing this, the ATC controllers asked the pilot to confirm if he’s carrying out a “belly landing”, i.e. landing without the landing gear extended. After some moments, the pilot is heard putting out a mayday call, which is the highest-level of distress call.

The ATC responded to the pilot by saying “both” runways at the Karachi airport were available for him to land. How — if — the pilot responded is not heard in the reported audio clip of the conversation.

However, PIA CEO Air Vice Marshal Arshad Malik said in a video message that the pilot had chosen to “go-around”, aviation parlance for aborting a landing the last moment and circling the runway for another attempt. Further investigation is underway, Air Vice Marashal Arshad Malik said.

Extremely severe cyclone ‘Amphan’ has killed at least 72 persons in West Bengal and ravaged Kolkata and several parts of the state as it left behind a trail of destruction by uprooting trees, destroying thousands of homes and swamping low-lying areas of the state.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday confirmed that at least 72 people have been killed in the state so far due to Cyclone Amphan. She also announced Rs 2 lakh compensation for those killed in the Cyclone.

“So far as per the reports we have received, 72 people have died in the state due to Cyclone Amphan. Two districts – North and South 24 Parganas are completely devastated. We have to rebuild those districts from scratch. I would urge the Central government to extend all help to the state,” Banerjee said after conducting a review meeting with officials.

“I have never witnessed such a fierce cyclone and destruction in my life. I would request Prime Minister Narendra Modi to come and visit Cyclone Amphan-affected areas,” Banerjee added.

Kolkata and several other parts of West Bengal wore a battered look on Thursday after the extremely severe cyclone ‘Amphan’ ripped through the state, leaving several dead and blowing up shanties, uprooting thousands of trees besides swamping low-lying areas.

Hours after Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri announced a cap on domestic airfare, aviation regulator DGCA issued seven bands of ticket pricing with lower and upper fare limits.

The first such band will consist of flights that are of less than 40 minutes duration.

A DGCA order said the that the lower and the upper fare limits for the first band is Rs 2,000 and Rs 6,000, respectively.

The lower and upper limits for these bands are: Rs 2,500-Rs 7,500; Rs 3,000-Rs 9,000; Rs 3,500-Rs 10,000; Rs 4,500-Rs 13,000; Rs 5,500-Rs 15,700 and Rs 6,500-Rs 18,600, respectively, the DGCA said.