Huh? Pakistan Airlines sacrifice goat before take-off for a safe flight

Huh? Pakistan Airlines staff sacrifice goat on runway before take off for safe flight

Pop star Junaid Jamshed was among 48 people killed when a small turboprop ATR 42 plane crashed into a hillside north of Islamabad on December 7, 2016, the latest episode in the country's long history of aviation disasters. Pic/AFP

Pakistan's national airline has been mocked on social media after it emerged that some of its employees had sacrificed a black goat on the runway ahead of a flight to ward off bad luck.

Seeking "divine intervention", staff of Pakistan's national carrier PIA sacrificed a black goat at the airport tarmac in Islamabad before an ATR-42 aircraft took off nearly a week after the French-built turboprop planes were grounded following a crash that killed 47 people.

"The officials sacrificed a goat on Sunday as a gesture of gratitude as the ATR aircraft resumed flight operations," a PIA official was quoted as saying by local media. The official, however, clarified that it was not a management-level decision.

Later, the plane left for Multan, making it the first ATR-42 aircraft to be pressed into service since the start of shakedown tests on all such aircraft in the wake of the air crash near Havelian on December 7 that killed all 47 people on board, including pop singer-turned-Islamic preacher Junaid Jamshed.

The pictures of the event showing PIA ground staff slaughtering a black goat next to an ATR-42 aircraft ready for departure went viral. Once it was established that the images were genuine and not photo-shopped, Twitterati ent into hypedrive and mocked the airlines for indulging in superstition.

PAKISTAN CRICKET LEGEND AND POLITICIAN IMRAN KHAN BLASTED THE AIRLINES

HERE'S HOW TWITTERATI REACTED TO THE NEWS:

EVEN PAKISTAN DEFENCE DIDN'T SPARE THE AIRLINES