PIA plane makes emergency landing due to 'technical fault'

LAHORE: A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight bound for Jeddah made an emergency landing at Allama Iqbal International Airport – Lahore due to technical fault, citing sources, ARY News reported on Sunday.

Sources said that the PIA Boeing 777 aircraft took off from the Lahore airport but fire alarms were raised inside the cockpit after the emergence of smoke from the Engine No 1 of the PK-759 flight.

The pilot of the aircraft immediately contacted the control tower to seek permission for an emergency landing and safely landed the aircraft with more than 130 passengers on board.

According to the PIA spokesperson, PK-759 with more than 130 passengers was landed due to technical fault and the plane was grounded for repair work, whereas, the passengers were departed to Jeddah through an alternative flight.

Earlier on August 26, a Lahore-bound flight of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) suffered serious damage after a bird hit near Lahore on Monday.

Read More: PIA aircraft skids off runway during landing at Panjgur Airport

The flight PK-758 was coming from London to Lahore. The Boeing 777 aircraft’s engine number one received considerable damage due to the bird hit.

However, the pilot of the aircraft successfully landed at the airport. Subsequently, the aircraft was grounded for maintenance.

Owing to the negligence of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the incidents of bird strikes have been consistently increasing at airports across the country.

In last seven months, more than 34 planes of Pakistan International Airline (PIA) were affected by bird strikes which caused millions of rupees loss to the national flag carrier, sources had said.