Plane carrying 164 passengers escapes disaster at Lahore airport
Fear and panic gripped the passengers, who were evacuated through an emergency gate.
LAHORE (Web Desk) - Emergency crews were called to help an aircraft of a private airline after its landing gear collapsed soon after touching down at the Allama Iqbal International Airport on Tuesday.
The Shareen Airlines flight NL-142 carrying 164 passengers was coming from Karachi. Some passengers were reportedly injured who were provided with immediate medical treatment. None of them was in critical condition.
Reportedly, the tyre of the aircraft burst due to a fault in the landing gear. The aircraft skidded off the runway after the tyre burst.
According to Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the aircraft was badly damaged in the incident.
The passengers who reached the airport to catch their flights faced great deal of inconvenience as several flight operations were affected after the incident.
Domestic flights including NL-143, PK-303 and PK-652 were delayed whereas the main runway 18L/36R remained active for wide body aircraft handling, the CAA reported.
According to reports, Shareen Airlines received the 1992-vintage aircraft in 2012. In July, Pakistan s civil aviation authority (CAA) grounded four of its aircraft due to recurring safety concerns.
Pakistan’s airline industry has been tarnished by a string of tragic accidents in recent years.
The last major plane crash in the country occurred in April 2012 when a Boeing 737-200 aircraft operated by domestic carrier Bhoja Airline crashed in bad weather during its approach to Benazir Bhutto International Airport in Islamabad, killing all 127 people aboard.
Another worst air disaster occurred in July 2010 when an Airblue aircraft crashed into Margalla Hills near Islamabad, killing all 152 people aboard. A government investigation blamed the pilot for veering off course amid stormy weather.
