BRITS on a Gatwick-bound 757 flight were terrified when a bolt of lightning tore into their jet's nosecone.

People started screaming on the Continental Airways Boeing plane which was forced to abandon its flight after passengers heard a loud bang and saw a flash of white light.

One passenger was yelling: Get me off the plane, get me off the plane, said radiographer Rachael Bamber, from Swindon, Wiltshire.

The incident happened on Saturday night as the plane climbed to around 4,000ft after taking off from Newark Airport near New York.

The cockpit crew decided to return to Newark, where the plane, with 122 passengers on board, landed safely. Passengers switched to another aircraft and finally reached Gatwick around two hours 40 minutes late.

Ms Bamber said that after the landing at Newark she had seen a two-foot gash in the nosecone, a hole with metal ripped back.

She went on: I saw the pilot at a bar getting a coffee. I gave him a big hug and thanked him for getting us down safely. He said the crew had been completely blinded for about three seconds.

A Continental Airways spokesman said today: After the lightning strike the pilot immediately returned to Newark. There was damage to the nosecone.

This was the kind of lightning strike that does happen occasionally but it must have been alarming for the customers on board.