This is the heart-stopping moment a cargo jet was struck by a bolt of lightning – while flying near a beautiful rainbow.

Photographer Birk Mobius snapped the once-in-a-lifetime photo from the ground at a small airfield just outside of Leipzig in eastern Germany.

The remarkable image shows a streak of lightning hitting one end of the plane and shooting out of the other end as it continues to the ground with a rainbow in the background.

Stunning: The plane operated by AeroLogic was travelling from Frankfurt to Leipzig in stormy weather

Force of nature: A cargo jet was struck by lightning as it flew near a rainbow in eastern Germany

The perfectly timed photo was posted on a Facebook page belonging to Air Marini, a company that charters private planes and is based at an airfield in the town of Taucha.

The company says the plane is a Boeing 777-FZN that is owned by AeroLogic, a German cargo airline.

The plane was struck as it made the 30-minute flight from Frankfurt to Leipzig in stormy weather on the evening of 24 August.

It landed safely in Frankfurt and there were no reported problems caused by the lightning strike.