Sacrifice for safety? Pakistani airline staff behead goat on runway before flight (GRAPHIC PHOTO)

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) staff who lost six of their colleagues in a crash this month, were purportedly pictured sacrificing a goat at an airport, prompting suggestions that it was done to ensure the safety of an aircraft.

The national carrier is still reeling from an air disaster on December 7, when an ATR aircraft ploughed into a mountainside near the small village of Saddha.

All passengers and crew died in the collision, prompting a full “shakedown” and thorough examination of the airline’s entire ATR fleet.

Amid the uncertainty surrounding the disaster, a bizarre image emerged of a group of men beheading a goat in front of a PIA plane similar to the one that went down.

According to Pakistan’s The Express Tribune, the image was taken at Benazir International Airport in Islamabad shortly before a domestic flight landed without incident.

A PIA spokesperson has since said the goat slaughter was a gesture instituted by “local employees” after the airline’s ATR aircraft were given the all clear to resume operations.

Unsurprisingly, the unusual event has spurred people to comment on the reasons for lobbing a goat’s head off before departure.

An investigation is still ongoing to determine what could have caused flight PK661 to lose altitude on December 7, with PIA insisting the “aircraft did not have any known defect” prior to takeoff from the Chitral region.