A SriLankan Airlines flight from Melbourne made an emergency landing at Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) last night (1) after smoke was detected in its cargo hold.

The aircraft, flight UL 605, landed safely at around 10.38 p.m., with all 258 passengers and 15 crew members unharmed.

SriLankan Airlines Head of Corporate Communications Deepal Perera stated that subsequent inspections traced the smoke to dry ice used to preserve a consignment of meat in the cargo hold.