Two passengers and one crew member were slightly hurt when a Pakistan International Airlines plane was forced to dive to narrowly avoid a collision with another airliner over southern Pakistan on Wednesday, the airline said.

The security system on the PIA Airbus A310, which was carrying 179 passengers and crew on a flight from Islamabad to the southern city of Karachi, alerted the pilot to the oncoming aircraft, an Airbus A320 operated by private Pakistani firm Air Blue, PIA spokeswoman Samina Pervez said.

"The security system instructed the plane to take a dip of 600 feet to avoid a head-on collision," she said. "During the descent, two passengers and one crew member were slightly injured. We narrowly escaped a big disaster."

Those injured received first aid on board and the aircraft landed safely in Karachi, she said.

The other aircraft, which was carrying 137 passengers and crew on a flight from Karachi to the eastern city of Lahore, also landed safely, said Air Blue, which began operating in competition with PIA on domestic routes in June.

The firm's CEO Shahid Khaqam Abbassi said it was looking into whether its pilot had any indication of another aircraft coming towards him. He said none of the passengers aboard the Air Blue flight was hurt.

Among those on the PIA flight was Pakistan's Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, who was not hurt, Pervez said.

She said the incident would be investigated by the Civil Aviation Authority.

(Reuters)