A Philippine captain suffered a mild stroke on Oct. 29 when piloting a passenger plane and his co-pilot managed to land the carrier safely, with 79 passengers on board, officials said on Oct. 30.

Captain Alex Carvajal, who was piloting a Philippine Airlines jet from Manila to Bacolod, suffered pain in his nape and asked co-pilot Donato Cabigo to take over the control when they were 60 kilometers from the destination, the Philippine Daily Inquirer said in an online report.

Bacolod is the capital city of the province of Negros Occidental, located in the central Philippines.

The incident did not constitute an emergency as no-one was harmed and Cabigo landed the Airbus 320 safely at 5:37 p.m. local time (09:37GMT), said Antonio Alfonso, manager of the Bacolod airport.

Passengers said they did not notice anything wrong except for slight turbulence caused by the cloudy weather.

However, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines will investigate the incident, Alfonso said.

Job Lamela, the Philippine Airlines' manager in Bacolod, said the captain did not pass out and was in fact speaking while undergoing treatment at a local hospital.

Carvajal's attending physician reported that the pilot experienced a cerebrovascular accident or a stroke, Lamela said.