ISLAMABAD, May 16: The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has left its passengers stranded in Beijing since Friday evening without making any alternative arrangements to bring them back to Islamabad.

Frantic calls from passengers received by Dawn said the PIA had told the passengers that they would be sent back on a regular flight bound for home on Monday.

When contacted, PIA spokesman in Islamabad, Mohammad Latif, said a plane had left Karachi on Sunday with a replacement engine for the out-of-order Airbus in Beijing. The same aircraft would bring the stranded passengers back on Monday, he said. The relatives of the stranded passengers could not receive the exact time of arrival from PIA's flight enquiry 114 as it was not fed the relevant data about the unscheduled flight.

On Saturday evening, the computerized flight enquiry at the Islamabad airport gave the expected time of arrival of PK-853 as 1:15pm on Sunday. When checked on Sunday, the expected time of arrival of PK- 853 was shown as Friday at 11pm, the regular scheduled flight.

Talking to Dawn from Beijing, an irate stranded passenger said, "I have a meeting on Monday morning and at least the PIA could have sent a plane to bring the passengers back on Saturday or Sunday."

Another passenger said the Airbus which was bound for Islamabad had developed engine problem and as the plane started taxiing on Beijing airport's runway, turbulent vibrations forced the pilot to bring the plane to a halt for a quick inspection which then led to the cancellation of the flight.

Yet another passenger said some of them were literally living as hostages of PIA in the hotel. Moreover, she said, people had not catered for the extra expenditure they had to incur for three days' overstay as a result of PIA's disregard for passengers' comfort.

"Any other airline would have immediately made alternate flight arrangements instead of waiting for almost three days to bring the stranded passengers back," an angry passenger said.