A British Airways flight carried out an emergency landing to evacuate passengers after smoke engulfed the cabin just minutes before it was due to land.
Those on board the BA422 flight yesterday afternoon from London Heathrow to Valencia took to social media to share photos and video footage of the 'terrifying' incident.
BA said that 175 passengers were on board the aircraft, which saw them have to slide down emergency chutes to the runway in Valencia to escape the smoke-filled cabin.
A statement from the airline said that the flight had "experienced a technical issue on its landing approach into Valencia".
The statement added: "All our customers were evacuated safely by our crew and met by the airport's emergency services."
Three customers were taken to hospital as "a precaution and have since been discharged," and other BA staff members met passengers after the incident to assist them in the airport terminal after the evacuation, BA added.
The airline said that the safety of customers and crew is "always our highest priority," and confirmed there were two pilots and six cabin crew also on board.
One passenger, Gayle Fitzpatrick, who was on holiday with her husband, posted a video to Twitter of the "very scary" evacuation.
She said: "A detector was going off saying the cabin was filling with smoke. It was like a horrible white acrid smoke.
"There was chat it was an air conditioning unit. There were no communications from the crew, some of which started to wear full oxygen masks and protective fire wear."
Gayle said fire engines were waiting at the runway, where they were then placed on a bus to the airport.
She added: "We are still waiting to hear what happened. People were crying and hyperventilating. It was genuinely scary."
Gayle also claims passengers had been stuck at the airport for at least two hours "without any information at all".
Other passengers tweeted photos of the incident, with one saying it "felt like a horror film".
Passenger Lucy then posted a second tweet saying that after three hours, passengers were able to pick up their belongings, but had no word from British Airways.
A spokesman for a regional emergency services response unit said: "We were alerted to a possible fire in one of the engines of a plane when it was landing.
"When firefighters reached the aircraft they discovered there was only smoke and no fire.
"All the emergency doors were opened and passengers left via those exits."
