Lahore, March 13 : Pakistan's flag carrier airline PIA (Pakistan International Airline) domestic flight landed in Lahore on Thursday without one of its wheels, leaving authorities shocked on what seemed like a major blunder on part of the flight management.

PIA flight PK306 had left from Karachi enroute to Lahore.

Upon landing at the Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore, it was discovered that the one of the tyres of the plane was missing.

"The issue was discovered during an inspection following the flight's landing at the airport," said a PIA spokesperson.

The interesting part of the whole episode is that despite the fact that more than 14 hours have passed since the flight landed in Lahore, there is no trace of the missing tyre as it has not been found yet.

Authorities at the Karachi International Airport have confirmed that the tyre was present when the plane took off from Karachi.

It was also maintained that the plane made a normal landing at the Lahore airport.

An investigation has been launched into the incident as authorities probe into how the tyre went missing.

Initial findings have revealed that the tyre shaft was found at the Karachi airport, after Lahore's Air Traffic Control (ATC) sent out a notification on the matter.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) maintains that preliminary observations indicate towards a possible external object strike on the plane's tyre at the runway of the Karachi airport.

"While the final report will reveal the cause of the incident, initial findings indicate that the wheel might have been impacted due to a fault on the runway of some other external factor," said the PIA spokesperson, adding that an immediate investigation has been launched by the PIA Safety Department and the CAA.

/IANS