At least 10 passengers were injured as the tyre of a domestic Shaheen Air International flight burst during an emergency landing at Allama Iqbal International Airport on Tuesday.
The Karachi-Lahore flight NL-142 was carrying more than a hundred passengers, airport sources say. Shaheen Airlines flies four flights from Karachi to Lahore daily.
The injured were provided with immediate medical treatment. None are said to be in critical condition.
FAULTY LANDING GEAR:
The plane skidded off the Lahore runway when faulty landing gear caused the tyre to burst, according to initial reports. The fuselage of the aircraft was damaged after the plane skidded off the runway. The pilot of the aircraft had given prior intimation to airport authorities regarding the fault in the landing gear before making the emergency landing.
According to a source in the aviation industry, Shaheen Air B737 was over 26 years old and was making an approach on Runway 36 R but then it tried to shift to Runway 36L, where it had been cleared for landing by the ground authorities. The source said that the aircraft was too close to the ground when it tried to shift course, causing the landing gear to hit the sideways, damaging it.
“The incident is purely the pilot’s fault. In such a situation the pilot should have gone around and made a fresh approach,” the source added.
Director of Engineering at Shaheen Air International, Syed Samin Uddin Naqvi, told reporters that, “The aircraft was checked before the flight according to standard procedures.” He said that the airline would also conduct its own investigation into the incident.
Naqvi claimed that no passengers were injured during the landing.
Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Pakistan representative Pervez George said that a Safety Investigation Board would probe the incident.
All domestic flights at the airport were delayed because of the incident, according to a tweet by CAA. The delayed flight numbers are as follows: Shaheen Airlines flight NL-143, Pakistan International Airlines flights PK-303 and PK-652.
Despite the emergency landing the main runway of the airport is still active for wide-body aircraft, said another tweet by CAA.
In July 2015, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) ordered grounding of four aircraft, including two Airbus A330s, an Airbus A320 and a Boeing B737-400 of Shaheen Air, citing safety concerns. CAA representative Pervez George had said that the aircraft were grounded, as they did not meet safety standards.
Pakistan’s airline industry has been tarnished by a string of tragic accidents in recent years.
Earlier in 2014, a similar incident involving Shaheen Airlines had taken place when flight NL-48 had skidded off the runway at Allama Iqbal International Airport.
In April 2012, all 127 on board Bhoja Air’s Boeing 737-200 lost their lives when the flight flew from Karachi airport but crashed five kilometres from Islamabad.
Earlier in July 2010, an Airblue jetliner crashed into Islamabad’s Margalla hills, killing all 146 passengers and six crewmembers on board.
