PASSENGERS on a flight from Southampton Airport have spoken about how their plane was struck by lightning during take-off.

The British Airways Connect flight to Glasgow was forced to make an emergency landing at Bourne-mouth Airport after crew and passengers saw a flash of light followed by a smell of burning inside the cabin.

Speaking after arriving back at Southampton Airport, Peter Cox, a Rolls- Royce engineer from Locks Heath, said he flies on a regular basis and that despite the drama, people in the plane remained calm.

"We were just taking off when I saw a flash of orange and red light then some people said they could smell burning but I didn't smell anything," he said.

"Everyone was perfectly calm and the captain came on the radio and told us we would be landing in Bournemouth. There wasn't any panicking on board."

After landing safely at Bournemouth Airport at 7.45am, as reported in later editions of yesterday's Daily Echo, the 41 passengers on board were put on a coach back to Southampton, where they immediately checked in for a late morning flight to Glasgow.

"I fly regularly and have had a few interesting incidents," said Mr Cox. "This won't put me off flying again, it was a bit boring really."

Fellow passenger Brian Jamieson, an IT worker from Southampton, said: "The flight was absolutely fine. At first I didn't even realise we had been struck by lighting, I just thought someone had a mobile camera phone out and was using it to take a picture. I didn't find it was a problem and no one panicked. I often fly in a microlight aircraft so I know all about bumpy take-offs and landings," he added.

A spokeman for British Airways confirmed that the Embraer passenger plane was being checked over by engineers before being due to leave Bournemouth Airport late yesterday.

He said: "It's actually quite common for planes to get struck by lightning. They are designed to withstand it and the crew are all trained to deal with the situation."