Malaysia Airlines flight MH179 to Colombo had been forced to turn back to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) today due to technical issues, New Straits Times said today.

Malaysia Airlines in a statement said the aircraft, which departed at 10.10 pm yesterday, had to turn back when its auxiliary power unit (APU) was unable to start.

The APU which provides backup power is required to be switched on when an aircraft crosses over water. The aircraft had landed at the KLIA at 1.50 am 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 statement said.

“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.