PIA plane cleared for flight after technical landing at Lahore airport

LAHORE: The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Wednesday evening cleared its Airbus A-320 for takeoff after it made an emergency landing at the Allama Iqbal International airport earlier in the day.

Flight PK-755 was en route to Riyadh from Sialkot when a fire alarm was triggered in the cargo bay. Responding to the alarm the Captain triggered the fire extinguishers even though there was no visible sign of fire or smoke. Following protocol, the Captain made a technical landing at Lahore.

Subsequent initial inspection by the authorities, however, found no fire, the PIA spokesman said in a statement.

The 134 passengers and six staff members onboard the plane were evacuated and safely moved to the airport’s lounge.

The airline later cleared the aircraft for operations following a thorough inspection.

Earlier certain sections of the media misreported the incident claiming there was smoke in the cockpit which was denied by the airline's spokesman Mashood Tajwar who added, "the media should not report unverified information and should be more responsible in its reportage." 

Tajwar also clarified that the aircraft was an A-320 and not a Boeing 777 as was being reported by certain sections of the media. 

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