Bomb threats ground two Pakistani flights

All passengers from both flights disembarked safely, the airline said [Reuters]

Two flights belonging to Pakistan’s state-owned airline have recieved bomb threats but both have landed safely, the airline said.

The first Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight was bound to Manchester, United Kingdom, on Wednesday and was forced to make an emergency landing in Turkey.

The second flight, on its way to Malaysia, landed safely in Kuala Lumpur.

Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said the threat was delivered by email.

“The first plane took off from Lahore and was on its way to Manchester,” he said. “The authorities evacuated the passengers and brought sniffer dogs.”

The flight crew was notified of the threat near the Bulgarian capital of Sofia, and contacted the control tower in Istanbul to seek permission for the landing, Turkey’s Anatolia news agency reported.