Jeddah-bound PIA flight makes emergency landing at Lahore airport

PIA refutes reports of a fire in one of the plane's engines, says landing was due to a 'technical fault'

LAHORE: A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight from Lahore to Jeddah was forced to make an emergency landing minutes after take-off on Sunday morning.

Initial reports suggested the emergency landing due to a fire in the Boeing 777's main engine which was caused by short-circuited wires.

PHOTO: EXPRESS

However, a PIA spokesperson strongly denied the reports and said PK-759 was called back due to a "technical fault".

"There is a stark difference in there actually being a fire or a malfunction in the fire warning system. There was no fire - the plane took off at 9:30am but was called back over a technical fault," PIA Spokesperson Mashood Tajwar told The Express Tribune.

There were over 200 passengers on board the Jeddah-bound flight and all of them remained unhurt in the incident.

Tajwar said the passengers were brought to the airport lounge and provided all necessary facilities. The affected passengers departed for Jeddah on an alternate flight at around 12:30pm.

The incident comes months after a PIA flight survived a scare at the Gilgit airport in July.

Flight PK-605 from Islamabad was landing at Gilgit airport when the plane skidded off the runway. Fortunately, all 48 passengers remained unhurt in the incident.