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Passenger Matt Babai tweeted a photo of the plane dumping fuel before returning to an airport in Bangkok
A Thai Airways flight from Bangkok to London was forced to turn around and make an unscheduled landing after the plane experienced an apparent hydraulic leak.

The captain decided to abort the 12-hour journey and returned to Suvarnabhumi Airport in the Thai capital due to a fault that occurred shortly after take-off.

Passenger Matt Babai tweeted a photo of the plane dumping fuel as it circled over Thailand in a holding pattern, calling it an 'eerie few days for the aviation industry'.

Matt, who snapped the photo from his window seat near the right wing, said passengers were told that the Airbus A340 was experiencing 'technical problems' and had to return to Bangkok's international airport.

He told MailOnline Travel: 'The plane was in the air for 30 minutes when the pilot came over the PA saying that we will be returning to Bangkok airport due to a technical issue and they were going to be dumping fuel.

'Very little information was provided, which was disappointing. The plane landed fine.'

He added: 'Apparently it was a hydraulic leak. There wasn't much panic but everyone was relieved when the plane landed.'

Flight TG916 departed Bangkok shortly before 1:45pm local time and was scheduled to land at London Heathrow Airport's Terminal 2 at about 7pm local time.

It circled over an area north-west of Bangkok before returning to the airport and landing without incident.

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The Thai Airways Airbus A340 circled over Thailand before returning to Suvarnabhumi Airport
Passengers returned to the terminal and were delayed for more than three hours while Thai Airways organised another flight.

Matt said: 'The plane was taxied a bit away from the airport so were taken by bus to the terminal. There's no word on if we are going to be flying on the same plane or a different one yet.'

It has been a troubling week for the aviation industry following the disappearance of AirAsia flight 8501.

The Airbus A320 was travelling from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore when it vanished on Sunday with 162 people on board.

Search teams found bodies, luggage, and debris, including a plane door and an emergency slide, floating in the water off the coast of Borneo Island today.