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Pakistan International Airlines Nearly Boards PPP Leaders on Wrong Flight

First published: December 27, 2016, 8:26 PM IST | Updated: 4 mins ago

In this file photo, a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) passenger plane arrives at the Benazir International airport in Islamabad, Pakistan. (Photo: Reuters)

Islamabad: Pakistan Peoples Party vice-president Sherry Rehman on Tuesday claimed that the country’s national carrier Pakistan International Airlines made her and other party members board a wrong flight.

“PIA boarded us on the wrong ATR for Multan instead of Sukkur,” she tweeted. The PPP Senator added they were on the right plane now “but no bakra in sight!”

PPP leaders and workers were headed to Garhi Khuda Bux in Sindh province to mark the ninth death anniversary of slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

Meanwhile, PIA spokesperson in a statement said two ATR aircraft were parked on adjacent bays at Karachi airport and due to some confusion, Sherry’s coach driver dropped her at the wrong bay.

“However as she approached the aircraft operating for Multan, the staff present outside the aircraft corrected her and guided her to the other one which was parked a few steps away,” The Express Tribune quoted the statement as saying.

The spokesperson further said such instances are very rarely reported but confusion may occur in case of simultaneous departures.

“An inquiry has been ordered into the incident,” he said. On December 12, PIA temporarily suspended its ATR operations after a ATR crash killed 47 people and a second ATR aircraft reported technical issues shortly before it was supposed to take off overnight.

On the same day, PIA chairman Azam Saigol tendered his resignation on ‘personal grounds’. Saigol had blamed engine failure for the December 7 crash.

Two weeks ago, a bizarre picture took social media by storm. The picture showed some men slaughtering a black goat near a PIA passenger jet while an Airport Security Force soldier stood nearby. Initially, the picture was thought to be photo-shopped, but it was not. The picture was snapped at Islamabad’s Benazir International Airport before a PIA ATR aircraft took off for Multan.