'I thought I was going to die' Plane passenger tells of emergency 'panic'

AN easyJet passenger on a Bristol-bound plane that was forced to make an emergency landing after there was a smell of smoke said he, and everyone else on that flight, "thought that they were going to die".

- Alex DRISCOLL

The flight travelling from Paphos, Cyprus, on Saturday made an emergency landing in Izmir, Turkey, an hour and 20 minutes into the journey.

Jamie Shorland who had travelled to Cyprus with his friend to see his grandfather, was on the return leg of the journey when smoke alarms went off, however, Jamie said none of the airline staff had told passengers about what was happening.

The 21-year-old said the flight, which was delayed by 30 minutes initially, took off at 10.30pm and it was when the plane was west of Turkey that he noticed something was wrong.

Jamie said: "The air cabin crew were told to put away the catering trolleys, whilst we were told no information at all, then we were told to brace for an emergency landing.

"We were above the water so we thought we'd crash into the sea, there was pure panic and none of the crew were helpful.

"I thought to myself 'this is how it ends,' people were screaming 'we are going to die!'

"One father rushed up the plane to hug his kids and the airline staff told him to go back to his seat. He told them to 'f*** off, if I am going to die I am going to be with my kids."