KARACHI: The Pakistan International Airlines may have cleared the ATR planes for flying operations, but mere clearance seemed a half-job done for the authorities as they resorted to slaughter a black goat on Sunday to ward off any ‘untoward happening’ in view of looming fear.

According to sources, the sacrifice of the goat was offered at the Islamabad airport on behalf of PIA. The goat was slaughtered moments before the aircraft took off for the first time after shakedown tests.

The flight was due for Multan from Islamabad. The PIA had grounded all of its 10 ATR aircraft after the Civil Aviation Authority ordered shakedown tests of the planes.

The directions came after an ATR aircraft reportedly caught fire while on runway of the Multan Airport before taking off Sunday. The PIA airplane PK-581 with 48 passengers onboard was set to take off from Multan to Karachi when it suffered a blaze.

According to PIA Spokesperson Danyal Gilani, “It has been decided to keep all 10 ATR aircraft grounded till they are cleared after thorough examination.” The statement said the “temporary suspension of ATR operation” will affect PIA’s flights to smaller airports like Gwadar, Turbat, Panjgur, Mohenjo Daro, Zhob, Bahawalpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Chitral and Gilgit.