Plane makes emergency landing

RAWALPINDI: A private airliner with 174 passengers on board made an emergency landing at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport on Tuesday.

Soon after Shaheen Air’s flight NL-122 took off from the airport for Karachi at 10:30am, its pilot received an emergency signal showing one of the engines of the aircraft emitting smoke. The pilot then diverted the plane back to the airport where an emergency was declared.

The plane safely landed at the airport at about 10:40am but the passengers were not informed what was wrong with the aircraft.

A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said a standard operating procedure (SOP) for the emergency landing was followed at the airport.

He said after the plane landed at the airport, it was towed to the hangar. All the passengers and crew members were disembarked through the stairs as no evacuation procedure was adopted.

Later, the passengers were shifted to another aircraft that took off for Karachi in the evening.

The station manager of Shaheen Air could not be contacted for comment.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2015

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