Minor explosion on engine of MAS flight causes panic among passengers

Small sparks caused by an explosion on the left engine of Malaysia Airlines flight MH1438 while it was 20,000 feet off the ground, caused panic among passengers on board a flight bound for Langkawi today.

A passenger with the user name Haswendy shared his experience and a picture of the plane engine on his Instagram page.
He said the incident occurred 10 minutes before the plane touched down at the Langkawi International Airport.
“I had a traumatic experience during our flight from KLIA to Langkawi just now. One of our flight MH1438 left engine had a light explosion that caused small sparks.  Few of the passengers were startled and few were crying.
“Alhamdulillah we landed safely,” said Haswendy, who was travelling with another friend.
He said he was talking to his friend when he heard an explosion and saw sparks coming out from one of the engines while at the same time, the lights in the plane went off for a few seconds.
He said passengers seated behind him were crying.
The latest incident adds to the difficulty and pressure the airline has been having since MH370 bound for Beijing disappeared on March 8.
On March 24, a MAS flight which departed from Kuala Lumpur bound for Seoul, was diverted to Hong Kong because of an inoperative aircraft generator.
Three days earlier, flight MH114 from Kuala Lumpur to Kathmandu was hit by a flock of birds during approach at the Tribhuvan International Airport.
Upon landing, the aircraft was inspected by the engineer on duty. It was found that the aircraft’s landing light lens cover was broken.
The aircraft had to be grounded for a night while the broken lens was replaced.
On April 21, MH192 flight bound for Bangalore, India made a turn back due to a mechanical failure.
MAS last week announced more losses and said its net loss expanded to RM443.4 million in the first quarter, from a net loss of RM278.8 million in the same period last year.
"The tragic MH370 incident had a dramatic impact on the traditionally weak first quarter performance," the company said in a statement to the Malaysian stock exchange.
It said it saw high numbers of cancellations and a decline in long-haul travel after flight MH370 went missing on March 8.
Since the majority of the passengers travelling on flight MH370 were Chinese, sales in China slumped 60%, added MAS. – May 20, 2014.