PIA Aircraft Catches Fire and Makes Emergency Landing in Lahore

A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight of 300 passengers had to make an emergency landing at Allama Iqbal International Airport, Lahore after the pilots detected smoke, which could have been a fire in the aircraft’s engine and cargo section.

Flight PK-755 took off from Sialkot for its destination – Riyadh, Saudia Arabia. The pilots suspected that the engine had caught fire and made the emergency landing after requesting an empty runway at the Lahore airport. Upon landing, the authorities did not discover any fire but only smoke.

Sources claim that an engine failure resulted in the fire and that even after the emergency landing, the engineering staff was not able to go near the plane due to the high intensity of the flames. Rescue teams reached the runway and doused the fire after half an hour.

The passengers were safely evacuated into the airport’s lounge while the passengers’ luggage in the aircraft’s cargo section – where smoke was coming from – was unloaded. After a complete inspection of the aircraft by PIA’s engineering staff, it has been cleared for flying.

The engineering staff reported that the smoke was actually coming from the cargo section and somehow made it into the airplane’s engine. The engines, however, are fine. The plane will continue its flight and has been loaded with the passengers and the cargo.

The fire wasn’t spotted but the pilot did an emergency landing because he witnessed signs of smoke in the section – he didn’t risk 300 lives.

It was a quick move by the pilots because if it really was a fire or the smoke came from the engines – this would have been a very dangerous situation. Smoke alone can cause problems such as panic among the staff and passengers, which can cause havoc on an airborne flight.