At least four people including two pilots and two passersby were killed and eight others injured when a military fighter jet crashed near a bus terminal in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi on Tuesday, local media and officials said.
A spokesperson from Pakistan Air Force (PAF) confirmed that the PAF fighter plane with a pilot and a co-pilot on board was on its routine mission across the city when it fell in Baldia Town of Karachi, the capital city of the country's south Sindh Province.
Earlier media reports said that the ill-fated aircraft was a small trainer plane, but later PAF sources confirmed it as a fighter jet.
The PAF spokesperson said that the plane crashed due to some technical fault in its engine, killing both the pilot and the co- pilot.
Huge fire erupted in the area following the plane crash, creating panic among the residents.
Security forces cordoned off the area for rescue operation. Four PAF helicopters also took part in the rescue operation, said the spokesperson.
He said that the PAF would compensate the people who lost their relatives, got injured or faced any financial loss in the accident.
The plane crashed when it was on its way back from the training mission and was set to land at Masroor Airbase Karachi, media reports said.
Eyewitnesses were quoted as saying that the plane caught fire and exploded in the air and its wreckage fall on four buses which were completely destroyed in the incident.
Samaa TV said that two passersby standing on the bus terminal lost their lives while eight others got injured when the plane's wreckage fell on them.
The injured people were shifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where at least two of them were said to be in critical condition.
Chief Minister Sindh, Qaim Ali Shah, expressed sorrow over the incident and sought report from the police chief.