New Delhi: A Qatar Airways' Delhi-Doha flight with 283 passengers on board was diverted to Pakistan's Karachi airport due to a technical snag. It made an emergency landing early Monday in Karachi's Jinnah International Airport. Within hours all the passengers were flown out to Doha on an alternative aircraft sent by the airline. Meanwhile, Qatar Airways in a statement said the incident is currently under investigation and a relief flight is being arranged to transport passengers onwards to Doha.
"Qatar Airways flight QR579 from Delhi to Doha on 21 March diverted to Karachi having declared an emergency due to the indication of smoke detected in the cargo hold," read the statement. According to the statement, the aircraft landed safely in Karachi where emergency services were provided after the passengers safely disembarked. Qatar Airways also apologized to the passengers for the inconvenience.
Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) spokesman Saifur Rehman said the Doha-bound flight of Qatar Airways QR579 had taken off from New Delhi at 3.20 (India time) and made an emergency landing in Karachi around 5.30 in the morning. "The captain declared an emergency after detection of smoke in the aircraft's cargo hold," Rehman said. He said the aircraft crew and passengers all disembarked and were taken to the airport lounge and provided emergency services at the Jinnah International Airport and left safely on the relief flight.
"The pilot requested to make an emergency landing and the control tower and CAA personnel responded immediately given the nature of the problem," he said. As the runway was cleared for emergency landing, a flight from Doha, bound to land in Karachi, had to continue circling overhead for a while. Several other flights, including Air Lanka's UL-183, flying to Karachi, had to wait before landing due to the emergency situation, officials said.
(With agency inputs)
