Indigo flight lands in Pak due to medical emergency

An Indigo flight from Sharjah to Lucknow was forced to make an emergency landing in Karachi early on Tuesday morning due to a medical emergency onboard. A 67-year-old flyer, whose health had deteriorated during the flight, was de-boarded in Karachi and was pronounced dead by a medical team at the airport. The landing was made on humanitarian grounds, despite suspended flight operations between the two countries. Flight operations between India and Pakistan have been suspended since February 2019. The passenger, who died onboard the Sharjah-lucknow flight, was identified as Habib ur Rehman. According to officials aware of the development, the flight 6E 1412, an Airbus 320 aircraft with a seating capacity of 182 passengers, departed from Sharjah International Airport at 1.59 am on Tuesday for Lucknow. “We are deeply saddened with the news and our prayers and wishes are with his family,” said a spokesperson of Indigo.

NEW DELHI: An Indigo flight from Sharjah, UAE, to Lucknow had to make an emergency landing at the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, Pakistan, early Tuesday morning due to a medical emergency onboard.

A 67-year-old flyer whose health had deteriorated during the flight was deboarded in Karachi and was pronounced dead at the airport. The landing was made on humanitarian grounds, despite suspended flight operations between the two countries.

Flight operations between India and Pakistan have been suspended since February 2019. However, as per the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) convention, any aircraft can land in any country in life-threatening situations, such as medical emergencies or serious technical faults.in July 2019, Pakistan reopened its airspace for international air traffic after around five months of restrictions due to tensions with India.

The passenger, who died onboard the Sharjah-lucknow flight was identified as Habib ur Rehman. According to officials, the flight 6E 1412 departed from Sharjah International Airport at 1.59 am on Tuesday for Lucknow. “But around 4 am, when the aircraft had just entered the Pakistani air space via Iran, one of the passengers was spotted feeling unwell. The crew then alerted the captain, who decided to land under medical emergency... Permission was sought on humanitarian grounds to land the aircraft,” said an officer.

Air traffic control of Karachi airport then provided a clear route to the flight, which landed at Jinnah International Airport at 4.59 am. “The passenger was taken out of the plane and was attended by a team of medical experts at Karachi airport, who pronounced him dead...”

After due formalities, the aircraft, with the body of the Indian passenger onboard, left Karachi at 8.18 am but landed in Ahmedabad at 10.02 am due to the Flight Duty Time Limitation.

“We are deeply saddened with the news and our prayers and wishes are with his family,” said a spokesperson of Indigo.