Malaysia Airlines flight MH179 to Colombo was forced to turn back to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) today due to technical issues, a statement said.

 Malaysia Airlines in a statement said the aircraft that departed at 10.10pm yesterday, had to turn back when its auxiliary power unit (APU) was unable to start. The APU is backup power that is required to be switched on when an aircraft crosses over water. The aircraft landed at the KLIA at 1.50am, today.

“Due to closure of Bandaranaike International Airport for scheduled maintenance at the runway, an immediate retiming was not possible. Hence, passengers were accommodated at nearby hotels.

“The flight will now operate as MH179D to depart from Kuala Lumpur at 3.30pm and is expected to arrive in Colombo at 4.35pm (local time) today.” “The return leg MH178D has been retimed to depart Colombo at 5.10pm (local time) on the same day and will arrive at KLIA at 11:20pm,” it said.

Malaysia Airlines said safety has always been the main priority. It apologised to the affected passengers for the disruption.