A passenger on a Norwich Airport flight to Turkey that was diverted to Brussels has described the 'scary' experience after it reportedly hit a bird.

The passenger, who did not want to be named, was on the Freebird Airlines flight to Dalaman which ran into difficulties just after taking off at around 7.50pm.

The plane was forced to circle Norfolk, with passengers being told they had suffered a bird strike.

It was later diverted to Brussels where it landed safely.

He said: 'It was very unclear and difficult to understand the pilot but he said we hit two things and had to return to Norwich.

'We circled for ages and then ended up in Brussels!

'It was pretty scary, as we were going up and down and had a complete lack of information.'

The passenger said emergency services were lining the runway at Brussels Airport, but that the landing was 'not too bad'.

Fellow passenger Michelle Keohane was on the flight with her partner and said 'communication was very poor'.

'The plane was at one point going up and down very erratic and even flew over the coastline near Great Yarmouth at quite a low altitude,' she said.

She added: 'I myself did not want to stay on the flight, but we were not given any options to get off.'

Charlie Platt, a private pilot, was also on board.

He said: 'The captain was clearly not happy with the situation and stayed airborne to get rid of his excess fuel.

'Then after testing the ailerons and boosting the engine in a preparation to land at Norwich the pilot made the professional choice to proceed to a bigger airfield.

'Brussels was full of fire crews and the airport appeared closed for us on arrival.

'I think more communication would have been a help but at the same time you don't want to scare people.'

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