A passenger on board an Air Asia plane has filmed the terrifying moment it began shaking like a 'washing machine' mid-flight due to a technical fault.
The plane, travelling from Perth, Australia to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia had to turn around after it hit problems about an hour and a half into the journey.
Distraught passengers were reported to be crying and attempted to call their loved ones as panic set. In the footage from the flight the seats can be shaking violently.
Sophie Nicolas, who was on the flight, told ABC News: "I could just tell by the cabin crew's reaction that it was really bad.
"I was crying a lot, a lot of people were crying, trying to call their mums and stuff but we couldn't really do anything just wait and trust the captain."
She went on to praise the captain, saying everyone 'burst into applause' when the plane landed safely. Once it landed the passengers and crew were met by emergency services.
A second witness told the news outlet: "It was essentially the engine seized up I think, that's what they told us anyway.
"It was literally like you were sitting on top of a washing machine. The whole thing was going. We could see the engine out the window which was really shaken on the wing."
He also praised the professionalism of the crew.
A spokesperson for AirAsia told WAToday: "Passengers are being attended to by our ground staff upon landing and all necessary assistance are being provided.
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"Flight crew are taking precautionary measures to check the aircraft and some guests on board the flight will be transferred to the next available flight today.
"Other guests will be informed of the progress of the flight. The safety of our guests are our utmost priority."
The spokesperson wouldn't confirm what the problem was, saying only that the plane had to turn around due to a 'technical reason'.
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