A Malaysian Airlines jet was grounded for five hours in Karachi after receiving a security threat that forced the plane to be evacuated and searched, the carrier said Friday.

Malaysian Airlines said that shortly before the jet from Kuala Lumpur landed in the Pakistani city Thursday, the Karachi Airport Security Force (ASF) received an "anonymous call that there would be a security threat on board."

It did not specify the nature of the alert, but the state Bernama news agency said it was a bomb threat.

Evacuated

"The ASF immediately secured the aircraft on landing," Malaysia Airlines said in a statement, adding that the plane was moved to a remote bay for security checks.

"As a precautionary measure and in the interest of passenger safety, all transit passengers and crew, together with their hand luggage, were immediately evacuated from the aircraft," it said.

Malaysia Airlines said that the flight, which landed in Karachi with 273 passengers on board and was due to travel on to Dubai, eventually took off after a delay of nearly five hours.