Panic broke out on the flight (Picture: Nine News)
Passengers screamed and struggled to breathe after a plane lost power shortly before takeoff.
AirAsia flight QZ533 was due to fly from Perth, Australia to Jakarta in Indonesia at about 3am on Thursday when the plane suffered a power failure.
The flight hadn’t yet taken off and was still on the tarmac when the failure occurred, but it still led to panic amongst passengers.
People started to cry and struggle to breathe, a passenger told Nine News, with 17 people removed from the flight.
A spokesperson for Perth airport confirmed the passengers had voluntarily disembarked the plane following ‘technical issues’.
‘We had been advised of a technical issue at the airport as the aircraft departed just before 3am,’ the spokesperson said.
‘It is due to land shortly. We’re not aware of what the issue was and we cannot comment on the airline (AirAsia) specifically.’
The plane departed an hour late, according to flight tracking service Flight Aware, and was scheduled to arrive at Jakarta airport more than an hour and a half behind schedule.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.