KARACHI/NEW DELHI:
An Indigo flight from Sharjah to Lucknow made an emergency landing at the Karachi airport in Pakistan on Tuesday morning after a passenger on board fell sick and later died.
An official of the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority said the landing permission was granted to the Captain of the Lucknow-bound IndiGo flight 6E1412 after an elderly passenger – identified as 67-year-old Habib ur Rehman – fell seriously ill.
“The passenger unfortunately expired on the plane even though the Indian aircraft was given permission to land at the Karachi airport,” the official said.
In a statement, IndiGo said the passenger who had the medical emergency could not be revived and was declared dead on arrival by the airport medical team. “We are deeply saddened with the news and our prayers and wishes are with his family,” it added.
The airline said the flight coming from Sharjah to Lucknow was diverted to Karachi.
The Pakistani official said that the request for an emergency landing was received as soon as the aircraft entered Pakistani airspace via Iran at 4 in the morning.
“The Captain contacted the air control tower and requested the aircraft be allowed to make an emergency landing on humanitarian grounds,” he said.
The permission was granted and the aircraft landed around 5 am, he said.
The official said that by the time the medical team boarded the flight to treat the passenger, he had died.
“The flight was allowed to take off around 8.36 am for Ahmedabad after completion of all formalities,” the official added.
Pakistan reopened its airspace to international civil aviation in July, 2019 after months of restrictions imposed because of tensions with India, which forced long detours that cost airlines millions of dollars.
