Brian and Mary Atkins on holiday in Miami a day before their in-flight drama

SNOOZING passengers were given the fright of their lives when they were awoken by an announcement saying the plane they were travelling on was about to making an emergency landing in the sea.

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Widespread panic ensued, according to holidaymakers Mary and Brian Atkins from Sudbury. But calm was restored when flight staff revealed the automatic message had been played by mistake and there was in fact no danger to passengers.

Mr and Mrs Atkins were travelling back from Miami to London on a British Airways flight earlier this month when they were awoken at 3am by the message being played over the public address system.

“Everyone was asleep and all the lights were out and then an announcement woke us all up, saying we were about to make an emergency landing in the sea,” said Mrs Atkins, who works in local government.

“I can laugh about it now but at the time my heart missed a beat and I felt sick. There were a few people screaming, which didn’t help. Luckily, I was sat between my husband, who stayed incredibly calm and a relaxed Danish man who leant over and told me: ‘Don’t worry about it, the engine is still running and I can still see the moon.’”

According to Mrs Atkins, the broadcast continued for around 30 seconds before it stopped and was followed by an announcement to say the message had been a mistake.

“I’ve flown all over the world and used to work in the airline industry, and I’ve never known anything like this,” she said.

“For the rest of the flight, there was silence. I think everyone was just in shock,” added Mrs Atkins, who said representatives from the airline were on hand to meet stunned passengers as they disembarked at Heathrow, to hand them a written apology and offer counselling.

“I just wanted to get home at that point,” said Mrs Atkins, who has since written to British Airways to ask for an explanation.

A letter from the airline’s customer relationship team, which has been seen by the East Anglian Daily Times, said: “A member of our cabin crew accidentally activated the announcement. So, although there was no danger, I can certainly see why you would find it so distressing. Once this announcement is triggered it can’t be turned off, for safety reasons.

“A full report of this incident has been sent to our maintenance team and senior management group. They will thoroughly investigate and analyse the circumstances of your flight – it is our priority to prevent this from happening again.”

Mrs Atkins admitted while her in-flight drama makes for a good story a few weeks on, she wonders if all passengers on her flight would have got over the incident so quickly.

“It really was scary and if someone was elderly or of a nervous disposition, I’d imagine they’d still be having problems sleeping now,” she added.