A Ryanair flight from Milan to London descended into panic when two men started eating their passports on board.
Some 20 minutes after departure, just after the seatbelt signs had been switched off, one witness described how travellers were left "terrified" as the incident unfolded.
One of the men methodically ripped pages from his passport before eating them.
His companion made his way to the toilet, apparently in a bid to flush his document away.
'Suddenly the whole mood changed... No one onboard knew what was going on, these people were acting weird,' the witness revealed (file photo)
|GETTY
Cabin crew repeatedly knocked on the door, urging him to emerge, but he remained inside.
Travellers were left stunned as they watched events unfold.
"Staff were notified and went to see what was going on at the front of the plane," the witness revealed.
"Suddenly the whole mood changed... No one onboard knew what was going on, these people were acting weird," they told the Daily Star.
Tensions on board then grew increasingly fraught as passengers struggled to work out what was going on.
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The passport-eaters were hauled away by police after the Ryanair flight made a diversion to Paris
| RYANAIRUltimately, the low-cost carrier was forced to divert to Paris.
The passenger described the aircraft's descent into the French capital as "the most terrifying 15 minutes of my life".
"The air hostess then made a public announcement that was so blunt and to the point.
"That freaked people out to another level. No one knew what was going on," the witness explained.
French officials promptly boarded the aircraft after landing and removed both individuals from the flight.
French officials promptly boarded the aircraft after landing and removed both individuals from the flight (file photo)
| GETTYThe entire ordeal extended the journey by two hours, during which authorities conducted thorough baggage checks.
Once the situation was resolved, the flight continued to Stansted.
The witness praised the airline's staff after the chaos.
"I think Ryanair were brilliant in handling it in a certain way. They gave out drinks towards the end of the flight as we were coming in over Stansted," they said.
"It was really stressful but Ryanair handled it amazingly. I'm just really f****** glad I landed."
The passport-eating may have been a tactic to claim asylum in Britain.
Many asylum seekers destroy their ID before presenting them to border control in a bid to obscure where they are from and avoid being deported.
Almost all Channel migrants destroy their passport or do not have one on arrival in the UK, bombshell data revealed last year.
As few as one in 50 "asylum seekers" have passports when they are picked up by Border Force officials.
Some are told by people-smugglers to destroy them in order to improve their chances of remaining in Britain.