Terrified holidaymakers today told of the moment they thought "they were going to die" when cabin pressure dropped dramatically on their flight to Spain.

Passengers said there was a sudden drop in temperature and a rush of cold air on board the Boeing 737 from Bristol Airport to Barcelona.

The Ryanair flight plunged more than 26,000 feet in five minutes before the pilot made an emergency landing in Limoges, central France.

The drama took place at 11.30pm yesterday less than an hour after the flight had taken off with 168 passengers on board.

Arctic explorer Pen Hadow, who became the first man to walk solo and unsupported from the northern coast of Canada to the North Pole in 2003, was on the flight with his wife, Mary, and their son and daughter.

He said there was a horrifying noise as the plane went down.

Mr Hadow said: "You think to yourself - God, is there a hole in the aircraft? It actually felt like somebody had opened a door in the back of the aircraft. The woman sitting in the seats in front of us was whimpering. I think people were properly terrified and thought that that was the end. They were making their peace with their maker.

"It was obvious to me that there was depressurisation in the cabin but there was no announcement and no evidence of the cabin crew for most of this experience."

He added: "My oxygen mask wasn't filling up with oxygen and neither was my son's. He was hyperventilating. I looked at the lady on my left and her mask hadn't filled up either. From where I was sitting I could see about 20 masks and only a few of them were inflating."

Another, unnamed, passenger told hospital staff: "There was a thumping noise, then a rush of very cold air through the cabin. People began shouting out in fear. Everyone began reaching for their masks, babies started crying, people clung on to each other. Some were being sick."

At least 16 people, including Mr Hadow's son, were taken to hospital suffering earache last night.

Many more were treated for shock. Hospital staff said passengers suffered bleeding noses and damaged ear-drums.

Ryanair said a replacement aircraft had been flown from Stansted Airport to Limoges and had taken the remaining passengers to Barcelona.

The airline's chief executive Michael O'Leary today said the sevenstrong crew had followed the correct procedures and all the equipment including the oxygen masks had been working. "Passengers sometimes misunderstand," he said. "They expect a surge of oxygen when in actual fact there is a steady stream of oxygen.

Jane's aviation analyst Chris Yates said the depressurisation could have been due to "anything from a faulty door seal to a problem with the electrical system, a long list of faults that could have affected any model of plane".

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