Zara Abid not on the current list of crash survivors: Health Department

Social media is full of friends and fans making all sorts of claims about the model's life and health

A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) aircraft, flying from Lahore to Karachi, crashed near the port city’s airport in the densely populated area of Model Colony on Friday.

Right after the news of the crash was reported many on social media claimed that model Zara Abid was on the same plane. According to the passengers' list of the flight received by The Express Tribune, a passenger by the name of Zara Abid had indeed boarded the plane.

While many known stakeholders of the entertainment industry claimed that she had indeed survived and was in the recovery, the Sindh Health department had a different story to tell.

"There are three people on the survivors' list,"  Sindh Health department spokesperson Meeran Yousuf told The Express Tribune. "The first is the Bank of Punjab president, the second is a man named Zubair who is under treatment at Civil Hospital Karachi and the third is a woman by name of Tahira who is hospitalised at CMH right now."

Social media storm

PR mogul, Frieha Altaf initially took to social media and shared that it was renowned model Zara Abid who was returning from Lahore after attending a family funeral.

Zara Abid was doing the show for @SanaSafinaz and @catwalk_cares. Her uncle passed away & she left for Lahore. Im just sick to my stomach. This is so close to home. Huge tragedy for the Fashion industry. So many lives lost! Prayers #zaraabid#PIA_Plane_Crashed pic.twitter.com/O2Zjr72WN5

— Frieha Altaf (@FriehaAltaf) May 22, 2020

"Zara Abid was doing the show for Sana Safinaz. Her uncle passed away and she left for Lahore," Frieha tweeted. "I'm just sick to my stomach. This is so close to home. A huge tragedy for the Fashion industry. So many lives lost! Prayers."

Soon after Altaf, fashion designer Khadija Shah of Elan declared Abid dead in a now-deleted tweet, "The fashion industry lost Zara Abid in the plane crash today. She was a wonderful girl, hardworking and professional. I was in awe of the energy and dynamism in her photographs. May her soul RIP."



Shah then deleted her previous tweet with another one.

https://twitter.com/khadijah_shah/status/1263799860685348865

"Praying that she may be a survivor! There is news that there are survivors, may Allah keep all of them safe and she is one of them," she said.

However, according to the health department, Abid was not listed as one of the plane crash survivors. The department has cited only three survivors so far, with Abid not making it to the list.

The Express Tribune has reached out to the model's family and is awaiting a response.

This is a developing story and will be updated as we receive more information.

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