Pakistani Passenger Plane Makes Emergency Landing in Karachi

Islamabad, Nov 19, IRNA -- A Pakistani passenger plane, carrying some 180 passengers and crew, was heading to London on Sunday before it had to make an emergency landing at the Karachi international airport due to technical fault, officials said. No one was hurt in the emergency landing of the Pakistan International Airlines (PAI) plane, a PIA spokesman said. The spokesman, Sultan Khan, denied local media report that engine of PK-787 had caught fire, and said the plane developed a technical fault and landed safely at Karachi airport. The incident took place about three minutes after the Boeing 777 plane took off from the airport at 11:45 a.m. local time. Local TV channels reported that an explosion was first heard at the left engine of the plane, followed by a fire. The pilot contacted the control tower for an emergency landing following the incident. The plane with flight number 787 remained hovering over the airport for about 15 minutes before it managed to land at the airport, the media quoted the airport authorities as saying. The pilot discharged part of the plane's fuel before it was ready for an emergency landing, said local media./end