KARACHI: A Dubai-bound Emirates Airlines flight was cancelled and all the 82 passengers evacuated through chutes at the Jinnah International Airport on Saturday evening after the pilot detected smoke in the aeroplane.

As soon as the Emirates Airlines flight EK609 started to push back from the terminal`s satellite, the pilot smelled smoke and immediately stopped the Airbus 320, informed the Civil Aviation Authority about the situation and asked the crew to evacuate the passengers.

The crew members immediately operated the chutes and evacuated the passengers. None of them received any serious injury while sliding down the chutes andlanding on the ground.

The passengers were shifted to the terminal building.

CAA spokesman Pervez George told Dawn that fire tenders were rushed to the aircraft and soon everything was under control. He said that the pilot had only suspected smoke in the cockpit and taken precautionary measures.

There was no fire.

He said the airport was not closed but some flights might have been affected.

A PIA spokesman said the airline`s flights PK306 and PK370, to Lahore and Islamabad, were slightly delayed.Later, an Emirates spol(espersonsaid:`Emirates flight EK609 en route from Karachi to Dubai has been cancelled due to a technical issue. After the aircraft was pushed back, crew detected smoke in the cabin. All passengers and crew have since disembarked the aircraft and have been rebooked on flight EK603 due to depart at 2330 local time.