Terrified passengers on-board the Malaysian Airlines flight that was forced to make an emergency landing at Alice Springs were told to "brace for impact" and thought they were about to die.

The A330-300 landed in Alice Springs at 5.46pm local time (6.16pm eastern time) with emergency crews on standby. Before it landed passengers begged the flight crew about what was going to happen but were reportedly told "we don't know".

"The fight attendant came on and said the pilot will give a 30-second warning before impact," Donna Edwards told Channel 9.

"One of the crew stopped near us and one guy said 'are we crashing or are we landing?' The crew member said 'I don't know'. We were just bracing for the worst. I thought I was going to die."

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The plane was heading to Kuala Lumpur from Sydney and was over Western Australian airspace when the plane began shaking.

Chin Kanani told the ABC his wife became alarmed when she heard a banging sound.

"She said she was on the loo when she started hearing loud banging noises from the right-hand side of the plane and that's when all it started," Kanani said.

The whole experience was "hell", he said.

Passenger Maryna Delport Evetts said engine problems had been blamed for the diversion.

"So just when you think this would never happen to you or it just happens in the movies, on our flight back home, four hours into the journey we had engine failure," Evetts posted to Facebook.

"We turned back and we are now sitting at the Airport in Alice Springs. Not too sure when we will be leaving but hey ho, we are on terra firma. "Not a good feeling 10,000 feet up in the air."

A Malaysia Airlines statement said the plane experienced a "technical fault" in an engine.

"Safety was not at any time compromised and the commanding captain decided to divert the flight for technical assistance," the statement said.

"Malaysia Airlines is also working very hard to reallocate passengers with onward connections on to the next available flights to their destination.

"Safety at all times is Malaysia Airlines' number one priority."

— with AAP