A TOP airline official has apologised to the parents of stabbed student Shehzad Iqbal after they were prevented from flying to Pakistan with his body.

Mohammed and Walayat Iqbal, of Saunders Road, Blackburn, were left stranded at Manchester Airport in December after all seats on the Pakistan International Airlines flight taking their dead son to Islamabad were booked up.

They eventually managed to get a flight the following day but missed the traditional funeral at their home village in Gujerat.

Now PIA's UK general manager, Saleem Nisar, has visited Blackburn from London to apologise in person to Shehzad's family.

And he has pledged to try and prevent anything similar happening again.

Shehzad, a student at St Mary's College, died following an incident on West Park Road. A man has been charged with his murder.

His family spent three months in Pakistan after the funeral before returning to this country last week.

While they were away, local councillor Mohammed Khan collected a 4,000-name petition to highlight the community's shock at the way Shehzad's family were treated and calling for an inquiry. Mr Nisar responded by visiting the family's home at the weekend and saying sorry in front of dozens of their friends.

Mr Nisar: "I wanted to express our apologies for not being able to accommodate them.

"The flight in question was overbooked and 18 other passengers were in the same position.

"But I wanted to assure the community that in future something like this won't happen."

At the time of the mix-up, PIA said the family were warned to book their flight early because of heavy demand but they were unable to do so because they did not know when Shehzad's body would be released for burial.

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