KOTA KINABALU, MALAYSIA: Strong winds from the tail end of Typhoon Ramasun have caused a Malaysia Airlines flight to be diverted and eight other flights delayed.

Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad Sabah manager Aznan Othman said Flight MH2616 from Kuala Lumpur had to be diverted to Brunei due to bad weather.

Passengers on the flightsaid the pilot had made the approach to land at about 4.30pm here but pulled off because of strong winds hitting the state capital.

The flight finally arrived from Brunei at 7pm yesterday.

Azman said as of 6pm, the strong winds had caused at least five arrivals and three departures of flights to be delayed between 10 minutes and 15 minutes.

"We had to divert and delay the flights for the safety of all passengers. It is a normal routine and practice for us during bad weather," he added.

The strong winds and heavy rain in some parts of the state are caused by the "tail" of a powerful typhoon, Ramasun, which battered eastern Philippine last week and had been moving northward towards Japan since Sunday.

The bad weather conditions are expected to continue until Saturday.

The State Meteorological Service Department had issued a warning urging the public to refrain from going out to the sea as waves of between 2.5m to 3.5m and winds of between 40km/hr and 50 km/hr were expected till Saturday. -The Star