Running out of fuel, Kuala Lumpur-Sabah Malindo Air flight forced to land in Kuching

A Malindo Air flight from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu (KK), Sabah had to turn back to land at the Kuching International Airport (KIA) at 5.38pm today.

A spokesman of the Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM) in Sarawak said that at about 5.16pm, a telephone call was received from KIA fire department on the matter.

He said the Sarawak JBPM informed that the airplane could not land at the KK International Airport due to bad weather, and later experienced a shortage of fuel, causing it to turn back to KIA for an emergency landing.

"As soon as the information was received the Operations Centre made an emergency call instructing the Tabuan Jaya and Batu Lintang Fire Stations to rush to the KIA to provide assistance.

"At 5.38pm, the LTAK (KIA) control tower reported that the aircraft had landed safely," he said.