A wild boar sneaked into Islamabad’s Jinnah International Airport and hit a landing plane on the runway on Saturday, reported 24NewsHD TV channel, quoting airport sources.
What appeared to be the negligence on the part of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) staff, the wild animal somehow made its way on to the runway and collided with a private airline’s ER-702 flight coming to Islamabad from Dubai.
The captain of the plane reported the episode to the CAA high-ups, which led to a thorough inspection of the plane by the engineering staff.
Airport sources said that later the carcass of the wild animal was removed from the runway.
The 24NewsHD tried to seek the stance of the Civil Aviation Authority spokesperson Saifullah Khan on the incident but he was not available.
Of late, a lot of incidents were reported in which birds would strike airplanes but incidents of straying animals hitting the aircraft are far and few between.
In January 2020, an Etihad Airways Airbus A320 flight from Abu Dhabi had also hit a wild boar during landing at Islamabad Airport. The animal was struck by aircraft's right main landing gear and its dead body was found on Runway 28L.
Reporter Tayyab Saif