Malaysian police to probe sabotage in MH192 emergency landing

Malaysian police today said they will probe if there was any sabotage behind the emergency landing of a Bangalore-bound flight carrying 166 people on board.

The Malaysia Airlines Flight MH192 turned back early this morning following a tyre burst and faulty landing gear.

Investigations would be carried out to see if there were elements of sabotage on the plane, Inspector General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar said while responding to Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein's call for the police to conduct an investigation.

The Boeing 737-800 - carrying 159 passengers and seven crew members - was en route to Bangalore from here when it made the emergency landing.

The Malaysia Airlines said in a statement that the turn back was because "one of the tyres on the right hand main landing gear burst during takeoff. The Captain was alerted by Kuala Lumpur Air Traffic Control that tyre debris were found on the runway and immediately contacted Malaysia Airlines Operations Control Centre (OCC) at 10:25pm."

"As safety is of utmost priority to Malaysia Airlines, the aircraft was required to turn back to KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport)," it said.

The Airport Fire Rescue Services (AFRS) were deployed as soon as the pilot was instructed to turn back to the airport by Operations Control Centre (OCC).

"All 159 passengers and 7 crew members on board have disembarked from the aircraft. MH192 will be re-timed to depart KLIA at 3.30pm on 21 April 2014 and arrive Bangalore at 5.00pm the same day," the statement said.

The people on board the plane were unharmed as the plane landed safely at KLIA around 1.56am (local time). The flight had departed at 10.09pm (local time) last night, Malaysia Airlines (MAS) tweeted.

The jet was scheduled to arrive in Bangalore at 11.35 pm IST yesterday.

Meanwhile, Hishammuddin praised the pilot of the plane for his "skillful" handling of the aircraft.

"The passengers, despite being tired, expressed their admiration for the pilot's skillful handling of the aircraft in making the emergency landing safe (at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport) without any harm to the passengers," he said and placed a pilot's cap on Nor Adam Azmi's head as a gesture of appreciation.