A Malaysian Airlines flight made an emergency landing in Alice Springs after a “loud bang” was heard from the left engine.
A Malaysian Airlines flight from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur had to make an emergency landing in Alice Springs, referred to as the capital of the outback in Australia, after a “loud bang” was heard from the left engine during the flight.
Some of the 224 passengers on board said that the plane was “shuddering”, “shaking” and making loud noises after the incident, which forced the pilot to turn around a short distance from Broome in northwest Australia to Alice Springs, where it landed just before 6pm local time on Thursday.
One passenger, Madhu Alasyam, said he was “scared to hell” on board and gave kudos to the pilot for landing safely in Australia, while another, Maryna Delport Evetts, said: “So just when you think this would never happen to you or it just happens in the movies, on our flight back home, four hours into the journey we had engine failure, shit shit shit.”
#Malaysian #Airlines flight #MH122 scared the hell, kudos to Pilot for safe landing in #AliceSprings, after a Brace-for-impact call. @MAS I hope to get my flight home to #HYD soon. God speed on the replacement 🙂
— Madhu Alasyam (@alasyam) January 18, 2018
Malaysia Airlines issued a statement saying it “deeply regrets the distress experienced by passengers” on board the flight.
“Based on reports received, there was a loud bang heard from the left hand engine,” the statement read.
“This was followed by a warning indicator which appeared on the electronic aircraft monitoring system. The captain then requested for the cabin crew to prepare for a normal landing. There was no chaos reported in the cabin. I thank all crew onboard for managing the situation by the book and in the calmest way possible. The crew performed their duties well, in line with their extensive training, in managing such situations. Safety was at no time, compromised.”
All affected passengers were accommodated at hotels and provided with meals and transportation and were due to continue their journey to Kuala Lumpur on a flight departing Alice Springs at 5.45pm local time on Friday.
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