QUETTA, Dec 10: More than 300 intending pilgrims staged a sit-in inside a plane for several hours here on Sunday when the Jeddah-bound aircraft could not take off due to technical problems.

However, authorities later persuaded them to leave the plane and made arrangements for them in hotels.

PIA’s flight was scheduled to leave the Quetta airport for Jeddah at 11am, but the plane could not reach Quetta from Karachi on time. The intending pilgrims had reached Quetta airport four hours before departure time.

The PIA staff told them that the plane would reach Quetta at 3pm. The PIA Haj flight landed at the airport at 3.43pm and 305 intending pilgrims boarded the plane at 4:30pm as PIA announced that the plane would leave for Jeddah at 5pm.

However, a technical fault was subsequently detected and the flight was delayed further. When PIA engineers and other staff removed the fault, the authorities told the passengers that the flight had been cancelled because no plane could take off from the Quetta airport after sunset.