Jet2 passengers 'jumped off aircraft wing' after electrical fault caused an emergency landing

Passengers onboard a commercial jet that made an emergency landing in the East Midlands on Wednesday have described how they made their escape by forcing open a door and jumping off a wing.

The jet travelling from Ibiza touched down at East Midlands Airport at 21:10 BST, after an electrical fault made the cabin smell of burning. Passengers were then evacuated from the jet shortly afterwards.

Budget airline Jet2 said the Boeing 737 was carrying 147 passengers and crew at the time.

Passenger Malcolm Yates told BBC News that the plane's intercom failed and there was no communication between cabin staff and customers in the air.

"We soon saw the fire engines lined up," he said, and described the "strong electrical burning smell" and how people screamed "get the kids off [the plane]"

Kyle Charles, from Strelley Village, Nottinghamshire, told the broadcaster: "We circled above the airport and tried but failed to land.

"We landed on the second attempt. When we landed it turned into sheer carnage."

Mr Charles went on to claim that one member of the cabin crew repeatedly shouted: "Get off the plane everybody now!".

When staff opened only the main front and back doors, Mr Charles and his friend Rob forced open a wing door and jumped onto the tarmac.

East Midlands Airport confirmed that three other flights were diverted to Birmingham after the precautionary evacuation of the aircraft operated Jet2.

Jet2 said in a statement: “We decided to disembark passengers as quickly as possible as a precautionary safety measure because a minor electrical problem led to some smoke in the cabin.”

The spokeswoman said: ”Following a safe arrival last night at East Midlands Airport, flight LS644 from Ibiza had to be evacuated once on stand as a precautionary safety measure.

“All passengers were looked after by our airport team. A full investigation is now under way.”

The UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch has since tweeted that it is investigating the incident.

The incident comes a day after holidaymakers refused to board a Jet2 plane flying from Malaga, Spain, to Manchester Airport, after a man who was reportedly taking selfies on the plane was arrested and led away in handcuffs by Spanish police, Manchester Evening News reported.

Less than an hour later, the man was deemed safe and led back onto the plane, but some of his fellow passengers refused to fly with him. After the two-hour-long security scare, the plane landed in Manchester at 3.45pm.

A witness, who withheld their name, told the newspaper that people were “crying” because they did not want to travel with the man. The witness added that the Home Office had said the man was “fine”.

A Jet2.com spokesman did not disclose why the man was arrested, but told the newspaper: "A number of our passengers chose not to travel on today’s Malaga to Manchester flight because they weren’t happy travelling with a fellow passenger, despite that person clearing all required security checks."

It is not yet known why the man was arrested.

Additional reporting by PA

Video courtesy of the Manchester Evening News