Pakistan's national carrier said Sunday it would investigate allegations that a plane flew from Karachi to Saudi Arabia carrying seven extra passengers, but denied they stood in the aisles for the three-hour journey. The probe was ordered after a media report.

The report said the January 20 flight to Madina carried 416 passengers, seven more than its capacity of 409 including jump seats, in a serious breach of air safety regulations.

The newspaper quoted sources as saying that in case of an emergency, passengers without seats would not have access to oxygen masks and could block any emergency evacuation.

Pakistan International Airlines' spokesman Danyal Gilani said media reports that some passengers travelled standing "are exaggerated and baseless. It is not possible for anyone to travel like that in an aircraft, regardless of the duration of the flight."

But he said: "The matter pertaining to the travel of more passengers than the booked load...is under investigation," and the airline had ordered a "thorough probe into it, and all concerned are being questioned".

"PIA is committed to ensure the safety of the passengers and cannot allow any incident to happen which compromises safety," he added.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2017