Emergency crews were placed on alert and hospitals on standby after a computer malfunction on board an Airfreight Express Boeing 747 cargo plane triggered a bogus fire alarm, forcing it to make an emergency landing at Chek Lap Kok airport yesterday.

The flight with eight crew aboard was heading to Tashkent in Uzbekistan when it was forced to return 20 minutes after taking off from Hong Kong at 11.24am. The plane landed safely.