Mum left terrified after flight was caught in chaotic thunderstorm

A mum was left terrified after her Ryanair flight got caught in a 'horrendous' thunderstorm.

Eileen Felton, 61, was flying back from Palma, Mallorca with her husband Carl on Saturday night (June 10). But as they geared to arrive at Liverpool John Lennon Airport, they were hit by a storm that spread across the Merseyside area, delaying their arrival.

Over the weekend, many parts of the UK have experienced soaring temperatures of close to 30C. This was accompanied by an amber weather warning in the Merseyside area for thunderstorms, the Liverpool Echo reports.

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Flights to and from the airport were severely affected, with Eileen's flight reportedly circling around the North West at around 8pm as it tried to land in Speke, according to a screenshot from Flight Radar. The flight was ultimately late to its destination after facing turbulence above Liverpool and eventually landed at 8.12pm - 12 hours later than initially planned.

Eileen said: "We had been away to Alcudia in a group of seven. We were delayed leaving but it got worse.

"As we got over the North West, they said 'we're coming into turbulence, please take your seats. That was before we hit the turbulence itself. Once we hit it, it was horrendous.

"I was holding the life out of my husband's hands. Luckily one of our friends on the trip works as a crew member on planes and he was able to explain what was going on. There was a family in front of us and the kids were so scared, they were screaming.

"The plane was bouncing up and down in the wind, it was going on for about 50 minutes - my fear level went through the roof."

Eileen added: "Every time we would go down to land, it would go up again.