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Kuala Lumpur – AirAsia X says a flight heading from Malaysia to Saudi Arabia turned back shortly after takeoff due to a technical problem, circling for hours to burn fuel before landing safely in Kuala Lumpur.AirAsia X Group Chief Executive Kamarudin Meranun says the auto-thrust of one of the plane’s engines malfunctioned about 45 minutes after take-off yesterday.
He said the pilots switched to manual thrust and could have continued the flight, but decided to turn back since it was early in the nearly 10-hour trip to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He said there was no emergency and that it was a precautionary measure.
The airline said the Airbus A330 landed safely more than five hours after take-off. It said all passengers would be transferred to another plane, which was to depart shortly.
Meanwhile, more bodies were found on Saturday following a plane crash earlier in the week in Taipei, bringing the confirmed death toll to 40, according to the Civil Aeronautics Administration, as investigators revealed their initial findings.
TransAsia Airways flight GE235 crashed into the Keelung river shortly after takeoff on Wednesday from Taipei’s Songshan Airport with 58 people on board.
The accident also injured a taxi driver and passenger on a bridge, the Central News Agency reported.
Four bodies were found between 100m and 1km downstream from the crash site, according to the Taipei City Fire Department.
One of the bodies was in TransAsia Airways uniform and it was soon identified as a 26-year-old female crew member Yeh Jia-jing.
A total of 828 rescuers, including 158 divers, continued to search for missing victims in the river, Taipei Fire Department interim chief Wu Chun-hung said.
Taiwan’s Aviation Safety Council said on Friday that the twin-engine ATR 72 turboprop lost power in the air.
The aircraft crashed about three and half minutes after takeoff, an initial examination of the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder suggested.
The pilots attempted to restart the engines but failed, Aviation Safety Council chief Thomas Wang said.
Wang said investigators were not yet able to tell why the engines shut down.- Sapa.
Online Reporter