Another Indian plane makes emergency landing in Karachi, passengers aboard IndiGo fight safe

An Indian airlines flight, IndiGo, travelling from Sharjah, UAE, to India's Hyderabad city had to divert to Pakistan’s Karachi after the pilot reported a technical defect.

In a statement, the airlines said that the plane made a precautionary landing in Karachi and all the passengers are safe.According to sources from Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority, the right engine of the aircraft had failed.

"IndiGo flight 6E-1406, operating from Sharjah to Hyderabad was diverted to Karachi. The pilot observed a technical defect. Necessary procedures were followed and as a precaution, the aircraft was diverted to Karachi. An additional flight is being sent to Karachi to fly the passengers to Hyderabad," the airline said in a release.

The engine had issues as soon as the pilots achieved cruising altitude while passing over Pakistani airspace, following which they took a professional decision to divert to Karachi instead of putting the life at risk of over 100 passengers when flying over the Arabian sea, sources said.

The passengers were shifted to the transit lounge 35 minutes after the landing. The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) engineers barred the plane from flying upon landing.

Watch |Indigo flight lands in Karachi due to a technical defect

The troubled aircraft was placed on the ground in Pakistan and a replacement aircraft,an Airbus A320-271N, arrived around 8 am (local times, 8.30 am IST). The newaircraft was due for departure at 9.30 am IST, was then rescheduled at 10 am IST and then finally took off at 11.58 am IST(11.28 am PKT).

The Indian low-cost carrier willlikely send a team of engineers to fix the problem and as soon as that happens, PIA engineers would lookinto the matter and sort out the issue.

This is the second time an Indian airline had to make an unscheduled landing in Karachi in two weeks.

Earlier on July 5, a Dubai-bound SpiceJet aircraft fromDelhi was diverted toKarachi city due to a malfunctioning fuel indicator light in the cockpit. All the 150 passengers were said to be safe.

(With inputs from WION's Pakistan correspondent Anas Mallick)

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