Passengers were left fearing for their lives when their flight from Paris to a beautiful French holiday island entered a nosedive and reportedly plummeted nearly 30,000ft over the weekend. Air France flight AF7721 was travelling from Paris to Corsica’s capital, Ajaccio, when, just 30 minutes into the flight at around 6pm, those on board heard a loud bang.

Passengers feared they would be “smashed to pieces” after the aircraft’s engine exploded. Christelle, a woman travelling with her daughter, told RTL she witnessed fire on the wing of the plane, saying: “It was in flames”, before feeling the plane “plummet” and panic erupted around her. “The buttons, everything was lighting up, everything was flashing. There was a man who grabbed his children because they thought we were going to crash,” she added.

Another woman, Joelle, said she “thought we were going to be smashed to pieces”, adding that she grabbed her phone to call her daughter, telling her: “I’m going to die, I’m going to die,” according to Le Parisien.

Joelle added that she now intends to file a complaint against Air France following the incident: “My 8-year-old granddaughter spent the night terrified of me, trembling all over, crying, and waking up from nightmares”.

Flight tracking data from FlightRadar24 shows that the Airbus A320 aircraft descended from an altitude of approximately 34,000 feet to around 5,000 feet in just 10 minutes. 

According to the passengers, the captain had explained that the left engine of the aircraft “stopped working mid-flight”. However, Air France referred to the incident as an “engine failure”, The Mail reports.

The plane was ultimately diverted to Lyon, with Air France stating that the decision was taken “in accordance with the manufacturer’s procedures, the company’s instructions, and the precautionary principle”.

Passengers were then required to take a replacement flight at 10.40pm, which brought them to Bastia on the northeastern coast of Corsica. From there, a bus took them to Ajaccio, where they eventually arrived at 3am.

The Airbus A320 operating the flight contains two CFM56 engines, which consistently record the industry’s best reliability ratings and have become industry benchmarks. In fact, they achieved rates of around 99.96%, meaning fewer than one in 2,500 departures are delayed or cancelled due to engine issues. Many CFM56-7B engines remain on wing, without requiring heavy maintenance, for over 30,000 hours, with some exceeding 40,000 hours before their first shop visit.

The Express has contacted Air France for comment.