Pakistan's national airline sacrifices goat on tarmac

Pakistan's national airline has sacrificed a goat on the tarmac to ward off bad luck after one of its planes went down earlier this month, killing 47.

The superstitious act, which saw a black goat's throat slit by Pakistan International Airline staff on a runway in Islamabad, has drawn mockery online, and the requisite handful of animal cruelty complaints.

Local media labelled the ritual slaughter "bizarre", while journalist Fasi Zaka won the Twitter pile-on with his comment that PIA "take their historical nickname 'Please Inform Allah' very seriously."

The Dawn newspaper also took the free kick, headlining their story "PIA: On a wing and a prayer".

But other weren't so quick to dismiss the sacrifice, with one Twitter user insisting that "there's nothing wrong in giving Sadqa (a sacrificial offering)…It hedges against many troubles. Stop making it a joke."

Indeed, as the BBC notes, the flight from Islamabad to Multan and back again went off without a hitch.

Despite the levity, the December 7 crash in the country's north was the worst air disaster to hit the airline in years.

Among the dead were a famed rock star-turned-Muslim evangelist, two babies, and three foreigners. All 42 passengers and five crew aboard were killed.