PIA’s emergency landings: President orders ‘thorough inquiry’

Zardari says human lives were too precious to take any risk.

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday directed the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and the Civil Aviation Authority to conduct a thorough inquiry into frequent incidents of emergency landings of flights and submit a comprehensive report within three days. Spokesperson to the President Senator Farhatullah Babar said the president expressed deep concern and dismay over the recurring reports of emergency landings of PIA’s aircraft mostly due to ‘technical reasons’. The president said that the first and the foremost responsibility of the managers of any airline was to ensure that the fleet was in a perfect condition for the sake of ensuring safety of the passengers. He said that human lives were too precious to take any risk or to overlook any dereliction of duty on the part of some people.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 21^st, 2012.