A passenger aircraft of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) caught fire Friday after hitting a bird at an airport here, but no casualties were reported.

All the passengers and crewmembers were safe after the engine of Lahore-bound airliner PK-302 caught fire at Jinnah International Airport, Geo TV reported.

A loud blast was heard in an engine of the aircraft, a Boeing commercial plane, when the airliner was preparing to take off early morning.

The takeoff was immediately aborted and the passengers and the staff were safe and sound, the report said.

The explosion happened when a bird struck the plane's engine, eyewitnesses said.

The incident happened just two days after a private Pakistani airline flight from Karachi crashed amid heavy rain in the thickly wooded Margalla Hills near Islamabad, killing all 152 passengers on board the plane.