As many as 274 Pakistani students stranded in the Chinese city of Wuhan arrived at Islamabad International Airport (IIA) on a special flight of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Monday.

PK 8872 carrying the students and 20 crew members landed at IIA at 8:15pm.

On arrival, they were checked by medical staff but no suspected Covid-19 patient was noticed.

In January, after the Chinese city of Wuhan was locked down in the wake of the spread of coronavirus, hundreds of Pakistani students got stranded there.

Many students appealed to the government of Pakistan through social media that they should be taken back to their country as their classmates from other countries had been airlifted from the coronavirus-hit city.

Separately,a PIA crew van moving on the airport’s apron caught fire apparently due to shot circuiting.

According to a PIA spokesman, efforts were made to extinguish the fire but later the fire engines of the CAA were called as the flames started spreading in the van.

The driver remained unhurt as he jumped out of the vehicle after noticing smoke coming out of the engine.

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2020

https://www.dawn.com/news/1558154/274-students-brought-back-from-china