Adil Najam
Here is a news item published in today’s The News (July 7, 2009, by Khalid Iqbal):
RAWALPINDI: Passengers heaved a sigh of relief when their plane from Birmingham finally landed at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport here on Monday, as they had been pestered by a number of rats who traveled with them all the way from Birmingham to Islamabad.
Dozens of big rats were present in the Boeing-777 flight No PK-792 that started its journey from Birmingham and landed here at 6:30 am on Monday. The passengers faced panic and disturbance due to the presence of the rats throughout the journey.
According to schedule, this flight, which had to leave for London at 11:30 am on Monday, could not be cleared of the rodents. The PIA management sent more than 50 mousetraps for catching the rats through its flight PK-368 from Karachi. However, the operation to catch the rats failed and the passengers of flight PK-792 took off at 2:30 pm on Monday instead of 11:30 am. The change, however, was that the passengers left on flight No PK-368 and not the original PK-792.
PIA Deputy Director Muhammad Latif admitted that big rats were present in the flight from Birmingham. He told The News that the engineering staff of the airlines succeeded in trapping the rats after a hard struggle. The big rats might have entered the plane while it was parked at the London Airport cargo centre, he added.
As the plane took off from the London airport, he said, the rats created panic and disturbance among the passengers and the plane staff informed the PIA officials about it.The passengers, who landed at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport, strongly protested against the incident.
APP: PIA Spokesman Sultan Hassan said on Monday that the Boeing 777 was grounded at the Islamabad Airport when the rats were found inside the plane. Talking to a TV channel, he said that after fumigation, the plane would be made operational.
All I can say is to repeat the famous Fifty-Fifty line: hunn kar lao gall!
P.S. See more on PIA at ATP here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Couple of cats could have brought the situation under control :)
Guess no fat cats in PIA.
oh wow, how awful!
but seriously, fifty mousetraps? that’s all they could do?
While the post raises serious questions about safety on board PIA flights (this is not the first time this has happened), the comments that have come in are truly hilarious, original and have me in stitches.
Love some of the comments from FB.
To slightly change one of them, I say: “Be Pakistani, Fly Pakistani
More comments on this from the ATP Facebook Page:
– “pathetic…..”
– “Thanks God thre were only Rats …..could be something else so don,t worry for rats”
– “more meat in inflight meals ;p”
– “I think its potentially dangerous as we know what rats used to be with wires if they cut some wires what might happened in the mid air better not to travel with PIA. If they don’t gave a dam about their peoples life why should people care about the so called FLAG carrier… ”
– “PIA ( Pathetic International Airlines )…….Better PIA replace their aircraft with KHOTA…”
– “OMG! Hillarious & dangerous! Hahhahhahhahhahhahha!”
– “ITS gr8 now we can see uk national rats in pakistan. but thaz a nic trick to send som thing special u ppl know wat i mean after all we r all pakistani heehehehehehehe ;)”
– “british govenment sending illegal rats to our country why the hell they mourn about illegal immigrants in their country. not fair”
– “Be Pakistani, Buy Pakistani… Only Pak rats in PIA please”
– “this is no way to make britain green. sending rats abroad”
– “Let’s not just question the hygiene level of aircraft maintained by the national carrier… i very much suspect the rats coming out of the luggage of some Birmingham based desi :)”
– “Rats jumping aboard the sinking ship. Oh the irony…”
– “PIA or RIA?”
– “The question is…..how did the rats got onboard? Was it Birmingham or was it karachi?…. ??”
– “BREAKING NEWS! The RATS found on a UK in-bound PIA flight have been deported back to UK through Emirates Airlines by the FIA as they did not have any valid travel documents. The RATS were arrested by the FIA at the airport and were taken to an unknown location for interrogation by agencies. Some are saying that these RATS were trying to illegally get into Pakistan to join the Baitullah Mehsud of TTP to fight against the Pakistan Army. Further investigations by MI-6 and ISI are expected to reveal the hidden hand behind these RATS. Stay Tuned!”
– “saad am kho guthlian mat ginu. rats navigation ki wires ko easy li kat saktay hain and its to much dangerous. asa na hota kya air crash investgaion main pia ka araha hota. allah ka sukar hai they landed safely”
– “BREAKING NEWS! One of the RAT found on PIA has confessed of military training at a Taliban Camp in Afghanistan. The other RATS have also revealed their extensive terror network located in the British Underground. It has also been revealed that on earlier flights about 30 RATS have slipped through bound with explosives. Security around major cities in Pakistan has been tightened and Rehman Malik will soon be giving a statement on how these RATS are a part of destabilisation process and conspiracy against Pakistan. Stay Tuned for the News conference by the RA…..sorry I mean Rehman Malik!!”
– “With the friend of the President looking after the affairs of PIA what else do you expect????”