THERE SEEMS to be something special about Malaysia Airlines’ Flight MH2664, which is regularly listed as bound for Tawau in Sabah.
The flight was reportedly involved in two turnback incidents and an infection scare where health authorities went in search of passengers after they had disembarked.
The latest event happened last Friday.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) confirmed that MH2664, which was en route from Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) to Tawau, had made a U-turn on Friday evening after the pilot encountered what is believed to be a technical issue during the flight.
“I got a report from air traffic control. The report only stated ‘to turn back and no further incident’. The company (MAS) will provide a detailed report within 48 hours,” CAAM chief executive officer Norazman Mahmud was quoted as saying when contacted by Bernama about the incident.
Based on information displayed on the flight tracking website flightaware.com, MH2664 was reported to have departed at 2.45pm before turning back to KLIA.
The plane reportedly hovered over Pahang air space before landing at KLIA at 5.07pm reportedly.
Flashback to 2020, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, it was reported that public health authorities were searching for passengers of flight MH2664 from Kuala Lumpur to Tawau on March 26 that year to come forward for a Covid-19 test.
According to a report, the passengers, especially those who were seated in rows 18 to 24, were urged to contact the Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre for Covid-19 as soon as possible.
“Attention all passengers of Flight MH2664 from Kuala Lumpur to Tawau on March 26, 2020, especially those seated in rows 18 to 24. You are requested to contact CPRC of Tawau Health Office,” said one announcement that was publicised.
‘Weather conditions’ cited
What is forgotten is that there was a third incident involving this flight.
A check with previous records shows that on April 5 last year, MH2664 had also made a turn back then due to a technical issue.
Malaysia Airlines explained that there were poor weather conditions along the flight path then.
On both occasions, the passengers apparently reboarded a different aircraft and reached Tawau safely albeit on another time schedule.
Back to the incident last Friday, Sinar Harian reported a passenger, Sarinah Mat Kassim, saying that the aircraft – a Boeing 737-800 – had stayed in a holding pattern over Pahang for three hours before it was redirected back to KLIA.
“We reached KLIA and the passengers on the flight to Tawau were moved to another aircraft, and we reached out destination at 6.30pm instead. The original schedule was 4.50pm,” Sarinah reportedly said.
MH2664 may be making headlines now with its latest turnback, which came days after the nation marked the 10th anniversary of the biggest mysteries in aviation history when MH370, a Boeing 777-200ER aircraft bound for Beijing, disappeared over the South China Sea.
MH370, which left Kuala Lumpur on March 8, 2014, never reached the Chinese capital city.
The flight was carrying 239 people and last communicated with air traffic control about 38 minutes after take-off when the plane was over the South China Sea.
No debris has been found, and all on board, including the crew, were later presumed dead. – The Vibes, March 17, 2024.
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