Cairo: A Saudi passenger plane Thursday made an emergency landing at Cairo Airport after developing a technical problem, sources at the airport said.
The Saudia aircraft had the problem after taking off from the Burj Al Arab airport in the Egyptian Mediterranean Sea city of Alexandria en route to the Saudi western city of Madinah, added the sources. There were 98 passengers on board.
“The air controllers at Cairo airport received a call from the captain of the flight 829, asking for permission to make an emergency landing due to a technical problem in the plane,” an official at the airport said.
“The permission for landing was given and maintenance teams were summoned for handling the problem,” added the official without specifying the problem.
The landing took place safely, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to the media.
Egypt has tightened security measures at its airports since October last year when a Russian aircraft crashed in Sinai, killing all 224 people on board. Terror group Daesh claimed it had downed the plane with a bomb planted inside it.
In May, an EgyptAir plane plunged into the Mediterranean Sea while on its way from Paris to Cairo. All the 66 people aboard were killed. The cause of the crash has yet to be officially given.
Data from the flight’s black box suggested fire inside the aircraft shortly before its plunge.
