WATCH: Mother films terrifying scene inside plane as it dropped towards the sea

A terrified mother has revealed how "all hell broke loose" as the plane she was travelling on dropped dramatically towards the sea.
Scene from inside the plane.Scene from inside the plane.
Scene from inside the plane.

Nickola Tye, from England, was travelling back from a holiday with her friends in Ibiza when the plane she was on began to nosedive towards the sea.

The 39-year-old said that an alarm went off on the plane before she the captain told the crew over the tannoy to "prepare for an emergency descent".

She said: "It was about half an hour into the flight and families were nodding off but all of a sudden the alarms went off.

Scene from inside the plane.Scene from inside the plane.
Scene from inside the plane.

"I'd never heard them on a plane before. That's when the captain started shouting over the tannoy and all hell broke loose.

"The hostesses didn't look as calm as you thought they might do in the situation and then the oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling.

"That's when everything went silent. We were all in a state of total shock and the plane started to drop dramatically."

The passenger plane was flying from Ibiza to Leeds with 180 passengers on board when what's been described as a "minor fault" forced the pilot into the emergency dive.

Nickola Tye (third from left) with her friends in Ibiza.Nickola Tye (third from left) with her friends in Ibiza.
Nickola Tye (third from left) with her friends in Ibiza.

The Jet2 operated plane levelled out as soon as it reached a safe altitude and landed at Barcelona airport.

The airline has since said that the flight was diverted due to a "minor technical issue".

Nickola said that, during a rational moment, she decided to text her husband Nathan and tell her family that she loved them.

Nickola said: "I didn't have my two young children or husband with me and all I could think was I'm not going to get to see them again.

Scene from inside the plane.Scene from inside the plane.
Scene from inside the plane.

"Because we were getting lower I was able to write a text to my husband. I said 'the plane is dropping and the oxygen masks have dropped down, if anything happens I love you'.

"It was awful after we landed. When it's all happening your brain goes into shock but when we landed that's when it all hit us.

"That's when people started crying. There was a woman at the front who could not be consoled."

Nickola and her friends Lucy Colley and Kate Broomhead eventually boarded another plane back to Leeds around four hours later but many were too scared to get back on it.

Jet2 has since apologised to those who were on the plane.