PIA breaks silence on viral ‘Kiki Challenge’ video

KARACHI: A day after viral video featuring foreign travel blogger doing ‘Kiki Challenge’ in a national carrier jet made rounds, the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) today issued a statement and denied any involvement in the stunt.

The Kiki challenge video, showing Polish vlogger Eva Bianka Zubeck, has been circulating on social media and has also drawn ire from National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

PIA Spokesman Mashhood Tajwar, in a statement issued on Tuesday, said: “PIA denies any involvement in the video of a foreigner girl dancing. This video was shared on PIA’s page but now has been deleted.”

He also said an inquiry had been initiated into the matter.

The video was being shared by a number of users without any hostility, until the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) took notice saying the vlogger ‘disrespected’ national flag, and soon the issue turned into a trending topic on the social media.

The viral video

NAB spokesman, in a TV interview, had stated, “We want to know who allowed the woman to go into an empty aircraft and dance at the airport.” He added that ‘we want to ascertain that who had permitted the women to freely move into a highly-secured runway of the airport.”

NAB had also expressed its course of action to send an official letter to the national flag carrier on August 15 seeking the management’s point of view on the issue.

Hours later, the travel blogger maintained that she was doing a video blog with PIA about traveling to Karachi when ‘someone’ suggested she should do the kiki challenge video for promotion of tourism in the country as such videos were trending.

“So I thought it could be a fun way to promote tourism in Pakistan but I do appreciate that some people didn’t like the video for some reason, so if that’s the case I do apologise, for I meant only positive things,” she said in her video message.