Bomb threats force 2 Pak flights to land

Two aircrafts of Pakistan's national carrier PIA, together carrying 554 passengers, was forced to land in different incidents in Turkey and Malaysia on Wednesday after they received bomb threats.

A PIA spokesman confirmed that the aircraft had received threats but had landed safely. All passengers were safe, he added.

The bomb threat was sent reportedly by email. The first flight took off from Islamabad and was bound for Manchester in Britain when it received the threat while flying over the Bulgarian capital of Sofia. It then landed in Istanbul after getting permission from Turkish authorities.

The Boeing 777-300ER aircraft was carrying 378 passengers and they were evacuated quickly.

Later, another PIA flight from Islamabad to Kuala Lumpur with 176 passengers received a similar threat and landed in the Malaysian capital, the spokesman said.