A China Eastern Airlines flight from Sydney to Shanghai has been forced to turn around after engine failure caused a midair emergency.

"The moment that we took off, the wing to my left just started making a massive amount of noise and they cleared all the seats," a passenger told the Nine Network.

Images show a huge hole in the engine casing of the Airbus A330, which was forced to circle for an hour before touching down safely.

An audio recording of the pilot's communication with Sydney Tower air traffic control captured the midair emergency, with the pilot clearly explaining the gravity of the situation.