Turkish Television on Wednesday reported that a suspected bomb threat had forced the UK bound PK 709 to make an emergency landing at the Istanbul airport. Its 378 passengers and crew were evacuated and the plane was searched by the bomb squad.
Turkish NTV had reported that the Boeing 777 belonging to the Pakistan state carrier, PIA, was flying from Islamabad in Pakistan to Manchester in England.
The flight, which had to make the unscheduled stop while flying through Bulgarian airspace, was cleared by Turkish authorities and allowed to resume its journey.
Sniffer dogs were used to scour the plane for explosives.
AFP adds
A second PIA plane with 164 passengers on board landed at Kuala Lumpur airport after a bomb alert, officials said Thursday.
The scheduled flight from the Pakistani city of Lahore to the Malaysian capital landed at 9:24 pm (1424 GMT) local time, on Wednesday, airport authorities said, after a bomb threat was received while it was in mid-air.
“At 8:45 pm (1345 GMT) Malaysia Airports received information from Pakistan International Airline Headquarters informing of an aircraft bomb warning for Airbus 313 Flight PK 898 from Lahore,” the airport authorities said in a statement.
“The flight PK898 safely landed at 9:24pm. The airline confirmed a total of 164 passengers, 3 cockpit crew and 10 cabin crew on board.”
Airport authorities said the aircraft had been parked at an isolated bay at the airport while police investigate.
