MALAYSIA Airlines' Bangalore-bound flight MH192 has made an air turn back towards Kuala Lumpur after taking off at 10:09pm on Sunday, the beleaguered carrier confirmed early Monday morning.

"The aircraft's right-hand landing gear malfunctioned upon takeoff and is expected to make an emergency landing at KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport at around 2.00am, today," Malaysia Airlines MAS) said in a statement.

"The flight was carrying a total number of 166 people on board, which include 159 passengers and seven crew members."

MH192, which operated on a B737-800 aircraft, was scheduled to arrive in Bangalore at 11.35pm on Sunday. But it turned back towards KLIA after take-off and had been hovering above the Straits of Malacca off the state of Selangor along the west coast of Malay Peninsula, as seen on Flight Radar, a website which provides real time air traffic.

MAS first broke the news via its Twitter shortly before 1am on Monday, before issuing a statement at 1:35am.

Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein also took to Twitter to reassure that he was "monitoring the flight closely" and would "keep everyone informed".