Meals on wheels: PIA staffer takes food van for a cruise on runway

Employee of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) runs amok with a catering pick-up van.

KARACHI:

In an unusual cat-and-mouse chase on Saturday, an employee of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) ran amok with a catering pick-up van right onto the runway of the Karachi International Airport for half an hour, triggering a security alert, aviation officials said.

The man, whose identity was being kept secret, was detained by the Airport Security Force (ASF) guards but only after he caused two other vehicles to collide with each other, injuring another official, they said.

“Civil Aviation Authority’s (CAA) control tower spotted a PIA catering pick-up cruising on the apron at a rather high speed,” said CAA spokesman Pervez George. “Our employees started chasing him. The ASF and PIA’s own security joined in as well but the guy kept running for some funny reason.”

The driver drove in circles to avoid being caught. “Nothing has been found in the car. No drugs… nothing.”

PIA denied the incident. Spokesman Sultan Hasan said there was no wild goose chase. “Only a collision took place between our vigilance vehicle and an ASF car.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 4^th, 2011.