A Riyadh-bound flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines was forced to return to Dhaka airport as the aircraft's weather radar system was not working.

The flight BG-339 carrying 347 passengers on board departed from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at around 2:00am today, Tahera Khondokar, general manager, public relations, Biman Bangladesh Airlines, told The Daily Star.

Sources at the HSIA, said, hours into the flight, the pilot of the aircraft realized that the aircraft's weather radar was not working.

As a result, the pilot was not getting weather or wind speed updates of Riyadh or the flying path.

The pilot then contacted the control tower and decided to return to Dhaka. The Boeing 777-300 returned to Dhaka airport at around 4:30am.

The weather radar system informs a pilot about the weather, storm and wind conditions. Also, the radar system identifies alternative routes to a pilot in case of storms or adverse weather conditions.

Asked HSIA Executive Director Group Captain Kamrul Islam told Daily Star that the aircraft made a technical landing due to weather radar problem.

Tahera said after fixing the problems, the flight left Dhaka at around 7:26am.