Mother's horror as two Russian passengers boarded her TUI flight from Mexico to Manchester illegally

A mother travelling with her son and daughter has spoken of her horror as two Russian passengers managed to board her TUI flight from Mexico to Manchester illegally.

Anna-Marie Watters, 54, from Westhoughton had enjoyed an "amazing" holiday to Riviera Maya with her 18-year-old son Devon and 21-year-old daughter Taryn and was sat on the plane home, when it suddenly turned back from taxi-ing to the runway. She says the captain made an announcement that two passengers were on board illegally, with no visa or paperwork to allow them entry into the UK, and had to be removed.

She says: "People were wondering how on earth had two people got on a chartered flight without any documentation. It was very scary and it should not have been happening."

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Anna-Marie, who is a chief executive for a charity, says the two Russian passengers were located but refused to get off and a "kerfuffle" ensued. She says: "We were told to put all phones away and not to video what was happening. "

She says because of the war between Russia and Ukraine, a lot of people started thinking the worst and panicking about what was happening. She says: "People were crying, some people were getting their luggage down from over-head, it was horrendous."

Anna-Marie says the pilot came out to speak to the stricken passengers but she says they were left for two hours sat on the stationary plane at the terminal. She says it took about half an hour for the crew to get the illegal passengers off the plane.

She says an announcement was then made that a suspicious package had been located on the plane and they were investigating what it was. She says: "After the passengers were removed there was another