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EasyJet passengers told how they were thrown into panic when a pilot allegedly took a vote on whether to fly the plane with a faulty engine.

Holidaymakers had been delayed in Malaga for two days when they said the pilot told them the chances of both engines working on the return flight to Bristol was '50/50' following a "technical issue".

But EasyJet have strongly denied the claims after reports emerged that the pilot apparently asked for a show of hands about whether they should take off, Gloucestershire Live reports.

One witness said it was possible there had been a 'misunderstanding'.

Passengers said around a dozen people wanted to remain on the plane as one claimed "the pilot himself said he’d never heard or done anything like this in 37 years of flying".

(Image: PA Archive)

Around 150 passengers were supposed to fly home from the Spanish resort on Thursday evening. They had already suffered delays of 36 hours to their holiday flight home, involving horrendous emergency coach rides to cockroach-infested hotels.

“It was absolutely horrendous,” said Jemma Hooper, from Stroud, who was with her husband Nathan, mum Theresa Lawrence and four children.

“They are putting people into a broken plane to make it look like they were trying."

They finally boarded the plane early on Saturday afternoon, thinking they were going home at last, only for the pilot to tell them he couldn’t start one of the engines.

Passengers said the pilot then came out of the cockpit with it still at the boarding gate at Malaga airport, explained the situation and asked for a show of hands on who wanted to make an attempt to fly back.

(Image: Rex Features)

One passenger, Teri Hill, said: “He said we could stay on the plane – we’d been on it waiting for an hour at this point and been in Malaga for two nights extra already – or he’d see if we would be allowed to get off again.

“At this point there was a bit of a mutiny on the plane – an awful lot of shouting and people crying, and demanding to get off. There was about 12 people wanted to stay on, but the rest of us wanted to get off."

One witness, who saw passengers returning through Bristol's Lulsgate airport, said: "It is possible there had been a misunderstanding among some of the passengers.

"It may simply have been that the pilot was asking them if they wanted to remain on the plane whilst they tried to sort the engine problems out.

"However it is was clear that the passengers were absolutely fed up having had already experienced a long delay in getting home."

One man, from Bath, had been appointed as a spokesman for the passengers. The man, who declined to be named, said he heard the vote being called and was actually sick.

“The pilot himself said he’d never heard or done anything like this in 37 years of flying,” he said. “He gave us the option, asked us what he should do.

"He asked for a show of hands. There were some who just wanted to try it, they wanted to get home. But most didn’t. There were girls hyperventilating, lots of people were panicking.

(Image: Getty Images Europe)

“There were elderly people on there, and lots of children. The worst thing was we had to wait another hour or two before they would actually let us off the plane,” he said.

Another passenger said the pilot said had explained that he could try to shut the one working engine off to get enough pressure to start the other, and it was ‘50/50’ whether this would work.

A spokesman for EasyJet said: "The pilot attempted to use one engine to start the other engine as is normal procedure.

"Because he was aware that the passengers had already been considerably delayed due to a technical problem the pilot asked the passengers if they would like to get off or remain on board whilst the engine start up sequence continued.

"It was then decided to fly the passengers back on a replacement aircraft.

"At no point did the pilot ask passengers, or would ever attempt, to fly the aircraft without both engines working correctly."

At the time of the incident, the airline confirmed that passengers had been provided with meal vouchers and overnight accommodation as the flight had been delayed.

A spokesman added: “EasyJet can confirm that flight EZY9958 from Malaga to Bristol on 8 June has been delayed overnight due to a technical issue.

“Passengers have been provided with meal vouchers, hotel accommodation and regulated updates.

“Our engineering team worked hard to try and get passengers to get to their destination as soon as possible and originally planned for a departure on 10 June.

“Unfortunately a further technical issue occurred and the decision was made to operate the flight with a replacement aircraft from London Gatwick. The flight departed from Malaga on the 10 June.

“EasyJet fleet complies with all manufacturers requirements. EasyJet passengers safety and wellbeing is our first priority.

“We sincerely apologise and thank our passengers for their patience."