Charter flight from India makes brief stop at Karachi's Jinnah International Airport, reason unknown

A charter airplane that took off from Hyderabad International Airport in India with 12 passengers made a brief landing at the Pakistan's Jinnah International Airport in Karachi on Monday (August 15) on the occasion of the Indian Independence Day, according to a media report. The special flight departed from the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad, and was bound for Dubai. However, the plane made an unscheduled landing at the Karachi International Airport at 12:10 pm (local time), Geo News reported, quoting sources.

A spokesperson for the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) confirmed the development and said the international charter flight had flown in from India and it had no connection whatsoever with the country other than that. Shortly after landing in Karachi, the special flight took off with the 12 passengers on board towards UAE.

It is not yet clear why the plane had landed at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, giving speculations to emergency landing made by the plane. However, both DGCA and Pakistan's CAA are yet to release a statement on the same.

The latest incident comes after two planes from India landed in Karachi last month due to technical issues. SpiceJet's Delhi-Dubai flight suffered a mid-air malfunction in its fuel indicator and was diverted to Karachi on July 5.

Also, IndiGo's Sharjah-Hyderabad flight was diverted to Karachi as a precaution on July 17 after pilots observed defect in one of the engines. With India and Pakistan sharing no direct flights over border disputes, landing of commercial planes in Pakistan raises security concerns in both the countries. 

With PTI inputs