The plane carrying 54 passengers and eight crew members departed for Dubai at 10:10pm but just 15 minutes later the pilot informed the control tower about an engine fire and requested permission for emergency landing.
“The pilot of the airplane, Captain Jarar, did a fine job in putting into action all the years of his training,” said Captain Junaid Yunus, the national air carrier’s managing director. “This is exactly what we train on simulators every six months. Landing on one engine is part of the drill.”
The incident was widely reported on national news channels and footage of a burning object in the backdrop of a black sky sent panic waves among people. Sound of a huge blast added to the anxiety.
“We all heard the blast and rushed to the rooftop. We could see the plane in flames until it disappeared,” said Naseem Ahmed, a retired air force official, who lives near Shahrah-e-Faisal.
The fire, which erupted in the right engine of the A-310, had been subdued even before landing. Every plane has an inbuilt fire-fighting mechanism to deal with such situations.
Junaid Yunus said the huge sound was caused by a sudden vacuum, which was created as the engine stopped working and not because it burst.
“These are high-powered engines. When the engine stalls and air stops passing through, there is a gap in air mass and that is what causes a loud noise.”
Another PIA official said that none of the passengers or crew members was injured. The airline was making arrangements for the passengers on a 1:00am flight to Dubai till filing of this report.
PIA has been struggling to get its A-310s out of operations as it faces difficulty in financing repairs.
http://tribune.com.pk
ISLAMABAD, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- A Dubai-bound passenger plane of Pakistan International Airlines with at least 54 people on-board made an emergency landing after its engine caught fire shortly after it took off from Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi on Sunday night, local media and officials said.
An official from Civil Aviation Authority Abid Qaimkhawani said that the incident took place few minutes after the Airbus A310 took off from the Jinnah International Airport of Karachi at 10:20 p.m. local time.
An eyewitness told local media that an explosion was first heard at one of the engines of the plane, followed by a fire.
The huge explosion and the fire spread panic among the residents of the areas nearby the airport.
The pilot of the plane contacted the control tower for an emergency landing following the incident.
The authorities declared emergency at the airport by calling security personnel and rescue teams including medics and fire fighters at the runway.
The PIA plane with flight number PK213 remained hovering over the airport for about five minutes before it was allowed to land at the airport, said the local media.
The pilot discharged part of the plane's fuel before the emergency landing to avoid any further big fire, said local media.
According to airport authorities, all the 54 passengers remained unhurt and were taken out of the plane safely.
Engineers of the Civil Aviation Authority were called in to examine the plane while an inquiry was also launched to know the reasons of the incident.
PIA,the flagship airline in Pakistan, has been suffering for years due to the lack of funds. According to the reports, two- thirds of the planes run by the company have reportedly been in service for more than two decades and faced frequent problems.
Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com
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