KARACHI, Pakistan: A Pakistani girl who was critically injured on the ground last month when a passenger plane went down in a crowded neighborhood of the port city of Karachi has died at a hospital, her relatives and a doctor said Tuesday.
The Airbus A320 crash killed 97 passengers and crew members; two passengers survived the crash.
The 12-year-old girl was among four local residents who were injured when the Airbus A320 crashed near the Karachi airport on May 22, slamming into the densely crowded neighborhood and setting off a huge fire.
She died on Monday from severe burn injuries, said Rubina Bashir, a doctor at a government hospital where the girl was treated. The remaining three injured local residents are still hospitalized.
Initial reports have said that the Pakistan International Airlines jet crashed after an apparent engine failure. Flight PK-8303 took off from the eastern city of Lahore and was trying to land at the Karachi airport when it crashed. At least 18 homes on the ground were damaged or destroyed.
The crash took place just days after Pakistan lifted some of the restrictions imposed over the coronavirus pandemic and resumed domestic flights ahead of the Eid Al-Fitr holiday, which marks the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Pakistan had been in a countrywide lockdown since mid-March because of the virus, and when flights resumed, every other seat was left vacant to promote social distancing, including on the doomed PIA flight. Authorities have reported over 76,398 cases of the virus, including 1,621 deaths.
Girl injured in Karachi plane crash dies of burn injuries
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Girl injured in Karachi plane crash dies of burn injuries
- The 12-year-old girl was among four local residents injured when a passenger plane crashed near Karachi airport on May 22
- Initial reports say the PIA jet crashed after an apparent engine failure
Pakistani religious parties announce Gaza rally at Lahore’s Iconic Minar-e-Pakistan
- Religious parties say are forming new pro-Gaza platform called Majlis-e-Ittehad-e-Ummat
- Platform to launch nationwide awareness campaigns to boycott Israeli products and companies
ISLAMABAD: The chief of Pakistan’s main religious-political party, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam F (JUI-F), said on Monday the JUI-F and other religious parties would stage a protest rally in solidarity with Palestinians at the iconic Minar-e-Pakistan monument in Lahore on Apr. 27.
The move follows a Gaza Solidarity March organized by another religio-political party, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), on a main road connecting Islamabad and Rawalpindi last week that was attended by thousands.
“A very big rally will be held at Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore on Apr. 27 along with a protest,” JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said on Monday at a press conference in Lahore alongside JI chief Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman.
“We all will participate along with other religious parties. We are forming a new platform now by the name of Majlis-e-Ittehad-e-Ummat.”
He also said nationwide awareness campaigns would be launched by the platform to boycott Israeli products.
Separately, the JI has announced a nationwide strike on Apr. 26 in solidarity with Palestine and urged citizens to boycott brands that support Israel amid its ongoing military offensive in Gaza.
Pakistan does not maintain diplomatic relations with Israel and has for decades condemned its military actions in Gaza.
Islamabad has called for the immediate resumption of humanitarian aid to the besieged enclave and a revival of negotiations toward a two-state solution. The country has long supported the establishment of an independent Palestinian state based on pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Since October 7, 2023, when Israel launched its latest military assault on Gaza, more than 51,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 116,000 injured.
Free ambulance service in southern Pakistan delivers babies, and hope, onboard
- Nearly 100 babies successfully delivered inside Sindh Integrated Emergency and Health Services ambulances this year
- As per UN report, Pakistan was among four countries that accounted for nearly half of all maternal deaths worldwide in 2023
MAKLI, Sindh: Earlier this month close to the crack of dawn, a free ambulance service in southern Pakistan received a call that a 26-year-old woman from a remote village in Thatta had gone into labor without a health facility nearby for miles.
Within minutes of receiving the call, a Sindh Integrated Emergency and Health Services (SIEHS) ambulance staffed with health workers trained in emergency obstetric care sped off toward Shabeera Bibi’s location in the Sindh province. The paramedics stabilized her and left with her for the nearest health center but realized soon that there just wasn’t enough time to reach the facility.
With her husband’s consent, Shabeera’s baby boy was delivered in the moving ambulance, one of 100 babies born in an SIEHS ambulance in this year alone.
“I was in a lot of pain when I was about to deliver, the baby’s condition was also at risk and my water had broken,” Bibi recalled, sitting on a charpoy back at home in her mud home in Hussain Notiar village.
In her arms, she held her newborn son Fayyaz.
“I am simply grateful to Allah for saving my baby and my life, and that my baby is still with me today.”
Pakistan’s Sindh province is the second most populated province of the country where 30 percent of women receive no prenatal care, 60 percent do not give birth in a health facility, and the maternal mortality ratio is thrice the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 3 target.
As per a recent United Nations report, Pakistan was among four countries that accounted for nearly half of all maternal deaths worldwide in 2023. The situation is dire in rural districts such as Thatta, where the health infrastructure is shoddy and few skilled birth attendants are available.
Set up in 2021, SIEHS, which runs as a public-private partnership, wants to fill the gap, with its ambulances, called ‘HOPE,’ providing free and round-the-clock assistance to people in Sindh though the 1122 helpline.
“Our job is to respond to emergencies,” Farheen Haider, an emergency Mmedical technician (EMT) at SIEHS, told Arab News. “When it’s a delivery case, we respond immediately. If the situation is more critical, we try to manage the patient on the way.”
Since its establishment, SIEHS has delivered 400 babies in ambulances across Sindh, with the mothers surviving in all cases, Haider added.
Shabeera’s was one such case in which paramedics worked in the confined space of the ambulance, performing the delivery and administering immediate postnatal care, including carrying out an APGAR scoring to gauge the health of the baby, as well as cleaning the mother and baby and cutting the umbilical cord.
The baby’s grandmother, Haseena Bibi, recalled the ordeal the woman went through that day.
“We are very poor and we couldn’t reach the hospital … we were very worried and then the girl [Shabeera] said that she couldn’t bear it anymore,” Haseena said.
She said the ambulance arrived quickly and Shabeera gave birth on the way.
Around 600 HOPE ambulances are operating in various districts of Sindh, Wazeer Ahmed, SIEHS regional manager told Arab News.
One of the main objectives of the service, he explained, was to move expecting women to hospitals:
“But if there are complications or the baby is about to be delivered, we take permission from the parents or the husband and proceed with the delivery inside the ambulance.”
Pakistan says Saudi Arabia has granted additional 10,000 slots for private Hajj scheme
- Nearly 90,000 Pakistanis are expected to perform Hajj pilgrimage under government scheme
- Around 23,620 Pakistani were to perform Hajj through private scheme before new slots added
ISLAMABAD: Religious Affairs Minister Sardar Muhammad Yousaf said on Monday Saudi Arabia had granted Pakistan an additional 10,000 slots for Hajj pilgrims traveling under the private scheme.
The annual Islamic pilgrimage is expected to take place this year in June. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed the Hajj Agreement 2025 in January, under which Pakistan was given a quota of 179,210 for the pilgrimage to be divided equally between government and private schemes.
Nearly 90,000 Pakistanis are expected to travel to Saudi Arabia under the government scheme this year and 23,620 Pakistani were to perform Hajj through private tour operators, which means that over 60,000 slots from the total quota had remained unfilled.
“We have been allowed 10,000 more in the quota, this is not government but private quota,” Yousaf told reporters.
The development has not yet been confirmed by Saudi authorities.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has constituted a three-member inquiry committee to probe why Pakistan had failed to use the full 179,210 quota for Hajj 2025.
Hajj flight operations will begin from Apr. 29 with the first flight departing from Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore.
While a precise number for Hajj 2025 is difficult to determine in advance, projections suggest it will be a record-breaking year, with over 2.5 million pilgrims expected.
Confident Peshawar Zalmi face Karachi Kings in PSL X clash tonight
- Zalmi last week defeated Multan Sultans by a record-breaking 120 runs
- Islamabad United beat Karachi Kings by six wickets on Sunday night
ISLAMABAD: A confident Peshawar Zalmi squad, led by skipper Babar Azam, will lock horns with Karachi Kings in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) X clash in the southern port city of Karachi tonight.
Zalmi will head into the match with their heads high after registering a record 120-run win over former champions Multan Sultans last week. The “Yellow Storm,” courtesy of impressive contributions from Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Hussain Talat, Abdul Samad and a fiery spell from young pacer Ali Raza, beat Multan to register their first win of this year’s PSL.
Karachi Kings are placed at the number three spot in the PSL points table. They have had a mixed tournament so far, winning two matches and losing two so far. The Kings had a horrible outing on Sunday, losing their PSL fixture to table-toppers Islamabad United who beat them by six wickets after scoring a modest 128/7 from their 20 overs.
“From the capital to the City of Lights, Zalmi on the move,” the franchise wrote on Instagram, showing a video of skipper Azam arriving in Karachi with his players.
Zalmi are placed at number five on the PSL points table, with only two points under their belt in the tournament so far. The Yellow Storm lost their opening two matches before registering a record win over Multan.
Former Pakistan captain Azam and explosive hitter Saim Ayub are expected to open for the squad while in Cadmore, Mohammad Haris, Samad and Hussain Talat, Zalmi have plenty of batting firepower to dismantle any bowling line-up.
Spinner Arif Yaqoob and Raza were instrumental in Peshawar’s win over Multan last week, returning figures of 3/20 and 4/21 from their four overs respectively.
The match is scheduled to begin at 8:00 p.m. Pakistan Standard Time.
Condolences pour in from Pakistan as Pope Francis dies at 88
- Francis was the first Latin American leader of the Roman Catholic Church
- He was 88 and had suffered a serious bout of double pneumonia this year
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif offered his condolences to the Christian community as the Vatican said Pope Francis, the first Latin American leader of the Roman Catholic Church, had died on Monday.
He was 88 and had suffered a serious bout of double pneumonia this year, but his death came as a shock after he had been driven around St. Peter’s Square in an open-air popemobile to greet cheering crowds on Easter Sunday.
“The passing of Pope Francis is an irreparable loss for the entire world, especially the Christian community,” Sharif was quoted as saying by his office.
“On behalf of the government of Pakistan and the people of Pakistan, I extend heartfelt condolences and sympathies to the Vatican City, the global Christian community and all his admirers around the world.”
The pontiff had reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza during his brief appearance before thousands of Catholic pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the Vatican’s open-air Easter Sunday mass.
Sharif praised Francis for calling for the cessation of hostilities in Gaza, saying it reflected his “deeply humane” character.
“Under his leadership, the Catholic Church spread the message of love, tolerance, and mutual respect across the world,” he said.
Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected pope on Mar. 13, 2013, surprising many church watchers who had seen the Argentine cleric, known for his concern for the poor, as an outsider. He sought to project simplicity into the grand role and never took possession of the ornate papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace used by his predecessors, saying he preferred to live in a community setting for his “psychological health.”
He inherited a church under attack over a child sex abuse scandal and torn by infighting in the Vatican bureaucracy, and was elected with a clear mandate to restore order.
But as his papacy progressed, he faced fierce criticism from conservatives, who accused him of trashing cherished traditions. He also drew the ire of progressives, who felt he should have done much more to reshape the 2,000-year-old church.
While he struggled with internal dissent, Francis became a global superstar, drawing huge crowds on his many foreign travels as he tirelessly promoted interfaith dialogue and peace, taking the side of the marginalized, such as migrants.
With additional input from Reuters
