RAWALPINDI, Sept 17: A Pakistan International Airlines flight (PK-368) escaped disaster when a bird hit one of its engines while landing at Islamabad International Airport on Friday, airport officials told Dawn. The PIA Airbus (A-310) was grounded after its left side engine suffered a 12-inch dent.

The plane, which was carrying 180 passengers, including crew members, was landing at the airport at its scheduled time (12:55pm) when a bird hit one of its engines.

A PIA spokesman, Mohammad Latif, said nobody was injured in the incident, however, the plane had been grounded. A team of PIA engineers will arrive in Islamabad from Karachi on Saturday morning to repair the engine.

Meanwhile, a Palestinian national was taken into custody by the Airport Security Force (ASF) staff after he was found possessing narcotics.

According to the authorities concerned, search of passengers of a Dubai-bound flight (EK-613) was in progress when an ASF official spotted a man acting suspiciously.

The ASF official found 415 grams of charas in his possession.

The accused, identified as Ali Ahmed Al-Mezani, was taken into custody and later handed over to the Anti-Narcotics Force for further investigation. Ali Ahmed was employed at a construction company in Dubai and had been in Pakistan to recruit construction staff for his company.

A drunk passenger, who created commotion in a PIA flight (PK-792) was taken into custody by the security staff shortly after the plane landed at Islamabad airport, authorities said.

The captain of the plane had complained to the ASF that the passenger, Shafqat Zaman, had been creating commotion in the plane and harassing the crew.

The accused, who belonged to Attock, was handed over to the police who registered an FIR against him.