PIA plane frisked in China over bomb hoax

KARACHI:

A bombing hoax forced a passenger plane of the national flag carrier to land in the Chinese port city of Tianjin on Friday.

Officials say it was an unusual incident for the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) as the threat originated in another country.

The PIA's flight PK-852, which departed Islamabad on Thursday night, landed in Beijing, the capital city of China, the next morning for routine en route connection to Tokyo.

"But after the plane had taken off from Beijing for Tokyo, the Chinese civil aviation authorities received an anonymous phone call about the presence of a bomb on the flight," said the Pakistan International Airlines spokesman Danyal Gilani.

Pilots were asked to divert the plane to Tianjin.

"The aircraft was thoroughly checked and later cleared for its onward journey," the PIA spokesman said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 5^th,  2015.