Terror for London-bound easyJet passengers as engine catches fire mid-flight

Families on the flight said they feared for the worst as cries of "'fire, fire" were heard from the back of the aircraft.

Some of the 119 passengers on board easyJet flight EZY2002 spoke of their terror after the Boeing 737 developed the "technical problem" shortly after take-off from Athens on Sunday night.

Adele Berry, from Leeds, said: "There was a big clanging noise, and obviously we were all terrified. We didn't know what was going on. There wasn't a lot of information being given.

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"Then people towards the rear of the cabin - we were at the front - said that there was a fire, and were shouting fire, fire.

"We thought we were going to crash. We didn't have a clue what to do, so we just sat there, holding hands and hoping we'd get back down again."

A spokesman for the airline said the engine suffered a "power surge" which caused a burst of flames, adding the flight turned back as a precaution.

After circling over the sea and dumping most of its fuel, the pilots managed an emergency landing at Athens airport 40 minutes after take-off.

"All of a sudden we heard a juddering from the side of the plane, and then you could see what looked like flashing lights outside," passenger Richard Leigh, from Bolton, told BBC News.

"After a couple of seconds you realised that there were flames coming out. People started shouting, and we were just hanging on for grim death."

Another passenger said: "We started to see flames coming through the engine. We were actually behind the wing and we could see all that was happening. There were quite a lot of flames coming out through the engine.

"It did actually go on for a long time."

After landing safely, passengers on the flight were given the option of transferring to a later flight that evening from Athens to Gatwick, or returning yesterday afternoon.

Aviation expert Max Kingsley-Jones said the 737 has an extremely good safety record.

He said: "These events can be alarming for passengers but if handled correctly by the crew, they can be managed safely.

"Powers surges are not very common and they can lead to engine failure, so they need to be treated seriously. But that is what the pilots are trained to deal with.

"Generally an engine failure is not a problem because the plane can land safely with just one engine.

"The 737 is one of the industry's workhorses and there are thousands of them out there flying. They have an extremely good safety record."

Aviation sources in the Greek capital said a fuel leak in the number two engine sparked the blaze, but a spokesman for easyJet said it was still too early to say what had caused the power surge.

She said: "The flight returned from airborne due to a technical problem. Investigations are now underway.

"The plane had an engine power surge which may have caused a momentary pulse of flame out of the exhaust of the engine.

"Surges are not uncommon and the engine was not in any way damaged by the incident, but we decided to return the flight to Athens as a precautionary measure.

"Surges can be caused by a number of factors including a change in airflow, but we are not yet aware of what caused this incident."