Malaysia B772 near Kuala Lumpur on Aug 23rd 2014, safety issue

A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200, registration 9M-MRH performing flight MH-70 from Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) to Tokyo Narita (Japan), was climbing out of Kuala Lumpur when the crew requested to stop the climb at FL210 due to a technical problem and to enter a holding. The crew subsequently requested a return to Kuala Lumpur without further detail and without requesting any priority or assistance, performed a rapid descent to FL100 (average rate of descent 2750fpm) and returned to Kuala Lumpur for a safe landing on runway 14L about 40 minutes after departure.

A passenger reported the crew announced they were returning to Kuala Lumpur over a safety issue.

A replacement Boeing 777-200 registration 9M-MRE reached Tokyo with a delay of 2.5 hours.

The occurrence aircraft was able to resume service 13 hours after landing.

The airline did not comment on the return.