Indian commercial flight makes emergency landing at Karachi Airport

An Indian commercial flight made an emergency landing at Karachi's Jinnah Terminal International Airport on Tuesday after a passenger on the aircraft fell ill.

The aircraft, of India's private airline IndiGo, was en route from Shahrjah to Lucknow when a medical emergency was reported on board.

The captain of the plane, due to the passenger’s quickly deteriorating condition, contacted Karachi Air Traffic Control and sought permission to land in Karachi on humanitarian grounds.

While the Pakistani air traffic control officials allowed the plane to make an emergency landing on humanitarian grounds, the passenger could not be saved and succumbed to his condition.

After confirmation of the passenger's death by doctors, the necessary procedural steps and documentation was carried out in Karachi, after which, the Indian plane took off again for Ahmedabad.

A similar such emergency landing was made at Karachi’s Jinnah International airport in November 2020 by commercial Indian airline GoAir, when due to a passenger suffering cardiac arrest, the plane had to land in Karachi.    

Pakistan closed its airspace to Indian traffic after aerial dogfights in February this year ratcheted up tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals. It reopened its skies for all civilian traffic in July, ending months of restrictions affecting major international routes.