Bangalore-bound Malaysian plane makes emergency landing

A Bangalore-bound Malaysia Airlines plane with 166 people on board turned back shortly after takeoff tonight due to problem in its landing gear.

Flight MH192 landed safely at Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 1.56am (local time), Malaysia Airlines (MAS) tweeted.

"The aircraft's right-hand landing gear malfunctioned upon takeoff and was forced to turn back to Kuala Lumpur," MAS said.

"All 159 passengers and 7 crew members on board are being disembarked from the aircraft."

The jet, operated on the B737-800 aircraft, departed from Kuala Lumpur at 10.09pm (0721 IST).

Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein earlier said on his Twitter feed that a tyre was reported to have burst on takeoff.

"They have landed safely -- thank God," he tweeted.

The plane was scheduled to arrive in Bangalore at 11.35 pm (local time) the same day.

MAS said the flight had departed at 10.09pm (local time) tonight.

Hishammuddin is overseeing Malaysia' response to Flight MH370 that crashed in the Indian Ocean with 239 people aboard on March 8.

A huge international search-and-rescue effort for any physical evidence of the plane's wreckage, now in its seventh week, had so far proved fruitless.