A flight from Manchester to Faro was forced to make an emergency landing after reports of a 'fire on board.'
Midway through the journey, the FR4052 Ryanair flight changed its route and landed in Brest, in western France.
The flight took off from Manchester shortly after 6.30pm, on Monday, January 3, the MEN reports.
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However not soon after take off, the airplane was pictured on the French runway surrounded by fire crews in attendance.
There were reports that the emergency landing was due to a 'fire' on board the aircraft, however this has not yet been confirmed.
Flight trackers quickly took to Twitter and social media to express their shock at the landing.
With some flight tracking software suggesting that the plane descended rapidly from 41,000ft to 6,725ft in seven minutes.
One Twitter user said: "I wonder what happened to flight #FR4052 for the plane to descend that quickly."
Another user @MellowoodHill said: "Good news, Ryanair’s #FR4052 touched down safely at BES, squawking 7700. But holy moly, that was a rapid descent there."
The Ryanair operated Boeing 737 aircraft was met on the runway by emergency services and passengers were reportedly escorted onto a bus by French police.
A spokesperson for Ryanair said: "This flight from Manchester to Faro (03 Jan) diverted to Brest Airport as a precaution due to a minor technical issue which caused an unidentified smoke smell in the cabin.
"Passengers disembarked the aircraft as normal and were taken to a secure area in Brest airport where they were provided with refreshments. An aircraft from London Stansted was arranged to carry the passengers on the remainder of their journey to Faro, following a delay of under 3 hours.
"Following an inspection of the aircraft by our engineers, the aircraft was released back to service."
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