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AirAsia flight ‘panic’ after loss of cabin pressure

An AirAsia Indonesia flight was forced to turn back to Australia after pilots were alerted to a possible loss of cabin pressure, according to local reports.

The flight to the Indonesian island of Bali changed course about 25 minutes after take-off on Sunday. The Airbus A320, carrying 151 people, landed safely at Perth airport.

AirAsia said the flight experienced a “technical issue”. Australian media said it had appeared to lose altitude.

“We were all pretty much saying goodbye to each other. It was really upsetting,” one passenger told the local Nine network.

A video taken on the aircraft, broadcast by local media, shows oxygen masks hanging from the ceiling and one person shouting “passengers get down, passengers get down”.

Another passenger, Claire Askew, told the Seven network “panic was escalated” by airline staff who were screaming and appeared to be in tears.

AirAsia said it was “fully committed” to the safety of passengers. It did not elaborate on the problem, the BBC reported. “AirAsia apologises to passengers for any inconvenience caused,” the low cost carrier said.

An AirAsia X flight on its way to Kuala Lumpur in June was forced to turn back to Perth due to “technical issues”.

An AirAsia aircraft crashed into the Java Sea killing all 162 people on board in December 2014 after the rudder control system malfunctioned during the flight.

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