PETALING JAYA, April 21 – Local social media channels were flooded with prayers last night after an aircraft from Malaysia Airlines (MAS) was forced to make an air turn back just two hours after taking off from Kuala Lumpur following a failure on its landing gear.
The panic response in social media from local netizens came after the mysterious disappearance of flight MH370 last month ferrying 239 passengers and crew members from KL to Beijing.
Until today the fate of all passengers onboard the aircraft is still uncertain.
In the latest incidentn MAS in press statement last night said that flight MH192, operated on the B737-800 aircraft, bound for Bangalore in India had sustained right-hand landing gear malfunction upon takeoff.
It confirmed that all 166 people on board – 159 passengers and 7 crew members – were safe after it landed at 1.56am at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
It is learnt that the airport runway was covered with foam for smooth landing impact.
“Malaysia Airlines confirms that flight MH192 that departed from Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) at 10.09pm bound for Bangalore has made an air turn back towards Kuala Lumpur.
“The aircraft’s right-hand landing gear malfunctioned upon takeoff.
“Malaysia Airlines flight MH192 that made an air turn back towards KLIA has landed safely at 1:56am” MAS tweeted.
A search on real-time flight tracker website Flightradar24.com revealed that the Boeing 737-8H6, which departed Kuala Lumpur at 10.10pm, was still midair at 1.15am.
Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein who has been frequently updating the world on the recent development of missing flight MH370 also tweeted that all passengers onboard MH192 were safe.
“All passengers safe alhamdullilah nevertheless I am getting ready to go there (KLIA) personally,” he said on his official twitter account.
An early morning press conference is expected to take place at KLIA today.
Last month, Boeing 777-200 airliner carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew went missing while on its flight to Beijing about one hour after departing from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 12.41am. It was to have landed in Beijing at 6.30am the same day.
MH370 disappeared from the civilian radar while flying towards Vietnam over the South China Sea. It is believed to have made a turn and was spotted on military radar western side of peninsula Malaysia heading for the Andaman Sea.
Satellite pings from the plane revealed that it diverted from its flight path and headed towards the southern Indian Ocean before ending its flight in the wild, deep blue ocean.
Searchers are still looking for the plane in southern Indian Ocean.
– FREE MALAYSIA TODAY
