Another Indian plane makes emergency landing in Karachi

Passengers transferred to transit lounge, offered breakfast

KARACHI:

An aircraft of India’s IndiGo Airlines made an emergency landing at Karachi airport in the wee hours of Sunday after developing a technical problem while travelling from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Hyderabad Deccan in India.

The emergency landing was requested from the Arabian Sea, where the plane encountered the technical problem. The captain of the flight 6E-1406 sought permission from the Karachi Air Traffic Control and safely landed the plane at 2:14 am, sources said.

They added that the plane was an Airbus 320, carrying over 180 passengers on board. They said that Indian passengers were transferred to the transit lounge and provided with breakfast, adding that they were to return to India by an alternative flight by 3 pm.

The Aviation Division said in Islamabad that IndiGo’s A320 developed a fault in Engine No 02 while overflying from Sharjah to Hyderabad. “The aircraft landed safely [at Karachi] with no assistance. As many as 186 passengers disembarked after the pilot’s permission,” it added.

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The IndiGo management said in a statement in New Delhi that the pilot of the Sharjah-Hyderabad flight observed a “technical defect” after which the “necessary procedures” were followed, and as a “precaution” the aircraft was diverted to Karachi.

IndiGo said it was dispatching an additional flight to Karachi to bring passengers back to Hyderabad. The Aviation Division in Islamabad later confirmed that the alternative plane of the IndiGo had reached the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi.

The sources said that flight 6E-1406 was the second flight from India that landed at Karachi in less than two weeks – the least expected destination for Indian passengers due to not so smooth political situation between the two South Asian neighbours.

Earlier this month, a Boeing 737 aircraft from a budget Indian airline, SpiceJet, while travelling from New Delhi to Dubai, also made an emergency landing at Karachi due to a fuel indicator light malfunctioning.

(WITH INPUTS FROM AGENCIES)