A Ryanair passenger has told of how his flight descended into chaos after a "depressurisation" incident left travellers "unable to breathe".
The flight, from Dublin to Madrid on Thursday, had departed the Irish capital as normal, and was calm enough for flyer Conor Curran to take a nap - but he soon found himself awoken by "emergency descent" alarms as the plane turned back.
Curran, 27, from Northern Irish border town Warrenpoint, said he had "just closed his eyes" when oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling and alarms started blaring.
He told the Belfast Telegraph: "We quickly tried to get our oxygen masks on and could see everyone else frantically trying to do the same... The crew were very quick to react and were helping some people who were struggling.
The flight had left Dublin as normal, Conor Curran said
PA
"The flow of oxygen started from the masks but it was hard to breathe, so it was immediately apparent that there had been a loss of cabin pressure."
Air traffic control in Dublin said that Ryanair flight FR10 had been rerouted back to its departure point - with flight tracking site FlightRadar24 showing how the aircraft began to descend and turned around about 60 miles off Ireland's southern coast.
And a Ryanair spokesman confirmed later that the plane had deployed its oxygen masks before making a controlled descent back to its point of origin.
They said: "This flight FR10 from Dublin to Madrid returned to Dublin shortly after take-off, due to a pressurisation system issue.
MORE IN-FLIGHT CHAOS:
FR10 deployed its oxygen masks before making a controlled descent back to Dublin
PA
"In line with standard procedure, the crew deployed oxygen masks, carried out a controlled descent and landed safely in Dublin where passengers disembarked normally."
But the 27-year-old said that, as the flight was coming into land, he could "smell burning" and the plane started to get "very hot".
He said: "You could smell burning - the crew advised us this was due to the oxygen bottles heating up. The plane started to get very hot as all the air conditioning systems stopped working - again the crew advised us this was normal.
"Once we reached a safe altitude we were advised we could remove the oxygen masks and were told we would be returning to Dublin [which] would take us 40 minutes to get there.
The plane began turning around about 60 miles off Ireland's southern coast
FLIGHTRADAR24
"The crew were very attentive and making sure we were all okay and as informed of the situation as we could be. Eventually we [landed] in Dublin."
Though passengers were then handed the chance to board another flight to Madrid, Curran said some were "too shaken" to fly again after the fracas.
Ryanair said that, "to minimise disruption to passengers, a replacement aircraft was arranged to operate this flight from Dublin to Madrid, which departed at 11.53am local time".
A spokesman for the airline added: "We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused."
