LAHORE/KARACHI - Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar ordered the grounding of all private airlines until they obtained requisite technical clearance certificates, just as two planes of Shaheen Air International narrowly escaped accidents at Lahore and Karachi airports on Sunday.
Talking to reporters, the defence minister ordered for inspection of planes of all private airlines to ensure safety of passengers.
He said all private airlines had been given a shakedown message to ground their planes for thorough checking by the Civil Aviation Authority from tomorrow.
Mukhtar said if proved that the recently crashed Bhoja airline plane was not fit for flight‚ the license of the airline would be cancelled.
Earlier, only hours after a Shaheen Air plane made an emergency landing at Karachi airport due to busted tires, another plane of the same airline avoided an accident at Lahore airport, officials said.
Airport officials said the airline’s plane carrying more than 200 passengers was stopped at Lahore before it was about take off for Mashhad, Iran, as authorities noticed a leakage in the fuel tank and directed pilots not to take off.
Officials said Shaheen Airline’s Boeing 737 had arrived from Dubai and was heading to the Iranian city when technicians noticed its fuel tank leaking.
Officials said the leaking was caused by loading the plane beyond capacity.
All passengers were taken off the plane and transferred to the international lounge where they staged a protest against the potentially fatal error and demanded a new plane to carry them to Mashhad.
Hours earlier, another passenger plane of the same company escaped a major disaster at Karachi airport on Sunday. According to airport officials, the rear landing gear of the Shaheen Airline’s Boeing 737-400 broke down during landing at Karachi airport. The commercial passenger Flight ML-112, carrying almost 162 passengers was at the end of its flight from Islamabad.
Fire tenders and rescue workers of the Civil Aviation Authority cordoned off the plane and took immediate safety measures.\ Fire brigade vehicles surrounded the aircraft soon after it made a crash landing with burst tyres, which broke its landing gear, forcing the plane’s right wing to drag along the runway.
All passengers and crew remained safe during the emergency landing; officials said, adding that airport was closed for all flights until the faulty aircraft was removed from the main runway.
Meanwhile, passengers of flights diverted to other airports after the Karachi incident suffered in heat, as shortage of fuel, forced the planes to shut the air cooling system.
All airplanes approaching Karachi from Islamabad Gwadar, DG Khan and Lahore were diverted to Nawabshah airport. However, the passengers of these flights, more 500 men, children and women, were confined to these flights for more than five hours.
Among the passengers were the PIA MD and federal minister Faisal Saleh Hayat; both of who were accorded full protocol while the rest of the travelers singed in heat inside the planes. The Karachi airport was reopened for operations after eight hours.
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