Malaysia Airlines flight horror: “I thought I was going to die”
After a number of flight tragedies in recent years, Malaysia Airlines has narrowly escaped yet another disaster. Flight MH122 from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur was forced to make an emergency landing in Alice Springs, with crew reportedly telling passengers to prepare for impact.
“We were just bracing for the worst,” passenger Donna Edwards told 9 News. “I thought I was going to die.”
At about 3.56 pm Northern Territory time yesterday, the Airbus was rocked by “massive vibration”, forcing staff to begin its emergency landing procedure while passengers held hands and prayed for the best.
“The flight attendant came on and said the pilot will give a 30-second warning before impact,” Edwards explained. “One of the crew stopped near us and one guy said, ‘Are we crashing or are we landing?’ The crew member said, ‘I don’t know.’”
Others took to social media to detail their experiences.
#malaysian airlines #mh122. Emergency landing at Alice Springs. The scariest part was that once the engine started to make a loud disturbing noise, the flight attendants all seemed nervous n clueless. For around 15 mins, there was no announcement.15 mins were as long as 15 hours!
— Sanjeev Pandey (@sppandey81) January 18, 2018
Luckily for all on board, the plane touched down safely in Alice Springs at 5.48 pm local time, where all passengers were given hotel rooms and booked on replacement flights for today.
In a statement released overnight, Malaysia Airlines said the aircraft “experienced a technical fault” in one of its engines.
“Safety was not at any time compromised and the commanding captain decided to divert the flight for technical assistance … Safety at all times is Malaysia Airlines’ number one priority.”