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A United Airlines flight from Houston, Texas, to Fort Myers, Florida, was forced to return to Houston's Bush International Airport on Monday shortly after takeoff because flames were shooting out of one of the engines.
"It was our left engine, our number one engine, that was surging when we were climbing through about 10,000 (feet), and flight attendants saw momentary flames back there," the pilot told air traffic controllers, according to a transmission provided to ABC News by LiveATC.net.
The plane landed safely, though the incident left the passengers terrified.
"Panic set in with a lot of people," passenger David Gruninger told ABC News. "A lot of the people around me were screaming and crying."
"This was a loud explosion. There was no question in any of our minds that something bad had happened. That combined with the plane nosediving and seeing the flames," passenger Elliot Trexler told NBC's TODAY.
Trexler also spoke to ABC News and said that he and his fellow passengers thought they were going to die.
"The cabin was dark, but it suddenly became illuminated with red, orange, and yellow colors. The engine was totally engulfed in flames," Trexler said.
"I think it's fair to say we all thought we were going to die," Trexler added. "The plane was rocking back and forth a lot."
The Federal Aviation Administration has launched an investigation into the incident.