'We had a nightmare TUI ordeal... and all we got was a tub of juice and a pain au chocolat'

A holidaymaker on a delayed TUI flight subsequently forced into an emergency landing has told of the 'nightmare' passengers endured after the plane was then damaged with a cherry picker.

The Manchester Evening Newsreported the plight of passengers on board flight TOM193 from Cancun in Mexico into Manchester Airport last Monday - initially delayed by four hours due to a medical emergency on the incoming service. The flight eventually took off, but a second medical emergency involving a passenger being taken ill on board forced the plane into an emergency landing after just an hour in the sky.

The flight landed at Charleston, in South Carolina, and firefighters arrived to rescue the sick passenger. But the ordeal took another unexpected twist when a 'cherry picker' used for emergency services to access the plane damaged the aircraft door, meaning the flight was unable to resume.

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Now more passengers have come forward to tell what happened. Sandra Evans, 58, from Newtown, Wales, said it had been a 'nightmare' and that she still doesn't fell well. TUI, meanwhile, has apologised and said the returning holidaymakers 'have been informed of how to claim for expenses occurred during the delay'.

Sandra said they all had to apply for visas using their mobile phones as they were in the US coming in from Mexico. And she claimed the man fell ill after a meal on board, saying they were left in 'stifling conditions' with only 'juice and a pain au chocolat'.

"There was an emergency on the flight before us," she said. "They had to move the flight times back because there was not enough oxygen on the plane, and they had run out of flight hours.

"We got to the airport at two,