Technical glitch diverts flight to Seoul

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Technical glitch diverts flight to Seoul

HONG KONG - A Malaysia Airlines flight carrying 271 people from Malaysia to South Korea on Monday was forced to make an unscheduled landing in Hong Kong after a technical fault involving an onboard generator, the airline said.

The incident early on Monday came as 26 countries search remote waters off Western Australia for a separate Malaysia Airlines jetliner, flight MH370, which went missing with 239 people on board and has not been found in more than two weeks.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 vanished from civilian radar screens on March 8 less than an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing.

Flight MH066 departed from Kuala Lumpur at 11:37 p.m. local time bound for Seoul’s Incheon International Airport. The flight, however, was diverted to Hong Kong’s international airport, where it landed safely at around 3 a.m., the airline said.

Malaysia Airlines said the Airbus A330-300 jet was diverted because of an inoperative generator. There was no loss of power because an auxiliary generator took over.

All 271 passengers were transferred to other carriers, the airline said, while the return flight from Incheon to Kuala Lumpur was canceled. Passengers have been transferred to other flights for the return leg.

A spokeswoman for the Hong Kong airport said the plane landed safely less than 30 minutes after it notified the airport.

She added that the incident was not classified as an emergency landing, although emergency services were put on standby.

Reuters



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