KARACHI, Aug 18: An Indian plane on a world tour landed in emergency at the Jinnah International Airport here on Saturday. Spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority Pervaiz George told Dawn that a single-engine micro-light aircraft made a ‘technical landing’ for refuelling at the airport.

He said the plane with two Indian pilots — Rahul Monga and Anil Kumar — took off from Bandar Abbas in Iran and was scheduled for Jamnagar in India via Muscat. However, Mr George said, the plane avoided its flight plan and landed in Karachi. “After refuelling, it left for India”, he added.

Airport sources said the pilots wanted to make a world record by completing a trip around the world in the minimum duration through a single-engine plane. They said the pilots had so far spent 78 days and the current world record through such an aircraft was 99 days.