By Simon Hradecky, created Thursday, Dec 31st 2020 18:44Z

A KLM Boeing 777-300, registration PH-BVA performing flight KL-896 from Shanghai Pudong (China) to Amsterdam (Netherlands) with only flight crew carrying cargo only, was enroute at FL320 about 60nm southeast of Irkutsk (Russia) when the crew reported problems with the left hand engine (GE90) and decided to divert to Beijing (China). The aircraft drifted down to FL280 first, turned around, further drifted down to FL250 and landed safely on Beijing's runway 01 about 3.5 hours after leaving FL320.

The aircraft is still on the ground in Beijing about 5 hours after landing.

The airline reported a technical problem prompted the diversion to Beijing.

On Jan 1st 2021 The Aviation Herald received information that at some time into the diversion the left hand engine was shut down. After landing maintenance found metallic chips in the engine's magnetic chip detector.