A flight carrying Kate Middleton and Prince William, who are currently on a royal tour of Pakistan, was forced to abort two landings in Islamabad before returning to Lahore. The landing was aborted due to lightning thunderstorm in the city. After two failed attempts, their plane was forced to land back in Lahore.
According to reports, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge went to Islamabad after concluding their Lahore visit. However, the Voyager - a British Royal Air Force plane - was caught in one of the thunderous storms and was forced to return.
“The pilot circled for an hour but the lightning – and turbulence – was so bad we had to fly back,” tweeted the Daily Mail’s royal correspondent Rebecca English, who was on board the plane.
“Few of us have experienced turbulence as bad as that,” she added.
Earlier, Prince William and Kate played cricket and joined a discussion with religious leaders on promoting interfaith harmony during their one-day tour of Lahore on Thursday.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge enjoyed playing cricket at the National Cricket Academy here. They interacted with some young cricketers and had a photo session at the end. Cricketers Sana Mir, Hasan Ali and Azhar Ali were also present.
The royal couple later visited the SOS Children Village, an orphanage, where Kate gave her first speech during the ongoing visit.
During their visit to the historic Badshahi Masjid, the couple took part in a discussion with religious leaders to understand how they are promoting interfaith harmony within their communities, Dawn Newspaper reported.
A visit to the Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital is also part of their schedule. William's late mother, Diana, who was a friend of Prime Minister Imran Khan, visited Pakistan twice - 1996 and 1997 - to help raise awareness and funds for the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital.
Earlier, the couple - who are the first royals to officially visit Pakistan since Prince Charles and his wife Camilla visited the region in 2006 - were received by Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and Governor Chaudhry Sarwar at the Lahore airport amid high security.
Traffic remained closed for the public on the couple's route, causing great inconvenience to motorists.
The duke and duchess arrived in Islamabad for their five-day maiden visit to Pakistan on Monday night.
With PTI Inputs
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