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Ryanair passengers were left furious as they were "locked" in a stairwell for an hour while their flight took off without them, it is claimed.

About 35 travellers - many of them elderly - were "held prisoner" in the cramped space and unable to board the plane which flew from Edinburgh to Krakow, the passengers say.

They say the doors at the top and bottom of the stairs were locked, trapping them inside the terminal and leaving them demanding answers from the Dublin-based budget carrier.

Passengers freed themselves when one angrily activated an emergency exit, but by then the plane was gone and they were put on another flight, arriving in Poland five hours late, the Daily Record reports.

Passengers claim staff had checked their passports and boarding cards and then squeezed past them on the stairs before the bottom doors were locked.

The plane then flew to Krakow with all the boarded bags - in an apparent security breach - and the priority passengers who paid to get on earlier, they say.

A flight log left at the boarding gate appeared to falsely state that all 179 passengers had safely boarded the Boeing 737, it is claimed.

Ryanair appeared to blame ground handling firm Swissport for the situation.

Swissport has apologised to passengers and said it is "investigating a boarding issue" and "working closely" with Ryanair "to establish what went wrong".

Aberdeen personal trainer Mark Henderson, 32, who was on his honeymoon with his wife Cara, said: “People were so frustrated at the delay and one of the passengers checked online and realised the flight had actually taken off.

“We were all stunned because there’s no way that Ryanair staff didn’t know that we were not on board. Staff had came through us then got on the plane, locking us in behind them.

”We can only guess at what was behind it but some people were asking if their main priority was making their take-off slot then dealing with the passengers later.

“We are angry because we got penned in, which made all the frustration of the delay worse. People were furious.”

Mr Henderson and his wife, a shipping company worker, tied the knot in Inverness on Saturday and were jetting off on a "mini-moon" before a longer break later this year.

Edinburgh IT worker Nicolas Vasquez, who was flying with partner Renata Bachul, checked an online tracker which revealed flight FR6624 had left.

After an hour inside the stairwell, he pressed the emergency button to allow passengers to escape.

He claims he saw the flight log at the boarding gate.

He said: “Apparently all 179 people were on the plane but that just didn’t happen.

“Maybe you could understand if a few passengers were missing and they didn’t do a head count but this was something else altogether. So many of the passengers were locked into the stairwell that it was obvious.

“There were lots of old people too, who were forced to stand for hours and couldn’t even get to the toilet, which was pretty bad.”

Tom Brady, 70, who was flying with friend Tom Hartley, 77, said their bag was put in the cargo hold and it flew to Krakow without them.

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Mr Brady said: “We were literally held prisoners in the stairwell. That would be no exaggeration. Doors were locked at either end.

“We are only away for four nights and that’s the first one been ruined. It seems extraordinary to me that we actually checked on to the flight and were counted as on board but we never got there.

“The plane was officially very busy but there would have been spare seats all over the place.”

Passengers were put on a later flight and were due to arrive in Krakow five hours late.

A Ryanair spokesperson told Mirror Online: “We apologise to our customers for this incident (3 Sept). This is a matter for Edinburgh Airport’s handling agent Swissport”.

Passengers told the Record they demanded answers from Swissport staff, but were told it was a matter for the airline.

A Swissport spokesperson said: “We can confirm that we are investigating a boarding issue on a flight from Edinburgh to Krakow where the flight departed without all passengers on board.

"We apologise to the passengers for the inconvenience caused and we are working closely with the airline to establish what went wrong.

“All passengers were given a complimentary refreshment voucher and were booked onto an alternative flight later that day.”