A Malaysia Airlines plane bound for Perth in western Australia, has been grounded after an engineer conducting pre-flight checks noticed its wires had been cut, a newspaper report said Saturday.

At least seven bundles of wires were on Thursday found cut on the A-330 aircraft, including those under an instrument panel located under the captain's seat, had been cut, the Star newspaper said. Police have been called in to investigate.

The paper said the aircraft had arrived at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on October 1 from Singapore and later sent to the maintenance bay for a routine inspection.

Malfunction noticed

The Star quoted the carrier's corporate services senior general manager Mohamaddon Abdullah as confirming that an A-330 aircraft had been grounded.

The aircraft's ground engineer noticed a malfunction during a pre-flight inspection, he said.

"There were some discrepancies in the aircraft's systems," he said. "We do not compromise on the safety of the aircraft and will conduct investigations with the assistance of other authorities."

The A-330 is a sophisticated aircraft which would have alerted the pilot to any malfunctions, he said. - AFP