Woman 'thought she was about to die' as plane started to fall in 80mph Mallorca storm
A plane passenger has recalled the terrifying moment her plane 'started to fall' as it got caught in a storm over Mallorca.
The Balearic Islands have been subject to severe thunderstorms in recent days, with winds of up to 75mph (120km/hr) striking the popular holiday destination.
The storms have been so bad that one P&O cruise ship broke free from its moorings and crashed into with a freight vessel over the weekend, and more than 20 flights have been cancelled as a result of the adverse weather.
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Estela Orts was among the passengers whose flights were affected by the storms, but Orts' plane wasn't one of those which had been cancelled.
Her flight actually took off successfully, but things took a turn during the journey when the plane got caught in a small patch of turbulence.
Before long, the plane was fully in the storm and the turbulence became a lot more severe.
Recalling the scary experience to The Mirror, Orts said: "I felt vulnerable. When I felt that we were falling sharply, I began to have an anxiety attack, my legs and hands trembled, it was a situation that I could not control, it was not up to me to save myself and it created even more anxiety."
Orts, who stars as Captain Scarlet in the famous Pirates show of Magaluf, started to cry and think about how far she'd come in life.
"It was the first time in my life that it has ever crossed my mind to think that this is it," she said.
"The plane started to fall. People and children (were) screaming, being sick, I couldn't help crying."
Orts admitted she doesn't know exactly how long the plane dropped for, but said it felt 'eternal'.
"Until the pilot managed to stabilise the plane, it was like a roller coaster," she recalled.
Orts said the pilot spoke to passengers after the scary experience, telling them the plane was being thrown around by cross winds of 80mph (130km/hr) and that it would be impossible to land in such conditions.
She described doing 'two laps around the island', but the plane eventually started to climb when the pilot 'decided that the best option was to return to Alicante'.
Orts shared footage from her flight when she was safely back on Earth, adding: "When the pilot managed to stabilise the plane, he was still quite nervous because it took us a long time to return to the ground.
"As soon as we hit the ground I could breathe easily."
Emily Brown