Another plane crash averted as Malaysia Airline MH066 makes unscheduled landing in 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.

Flight MH066 departed from Kuala Lumpur at 11.37 p.m. bound for Seoul's Incheon 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 said it was not classified as an emergency landing, although emergency services were put on standby.