Passenger filmed on video shows dramatic engine failure in the air

An American woman filmed the moment when one of the engines of her Delta Air Lines flight suffered a catastrophic failure.

Rebecca Needham was on board the flight from Atlanta to Baltimore, which was en route for an hour before the dramatic incident in which an engine element was loosened and caused her breakdown.

Needham said: "We do not know why the plane malfunctioned or what was causing it.They said the plane was now going to be retired."

A Delta Air Lines official said: "The crew of the Delta 1425 flight from Atlanta to Baltimore chose to divert to Raleigh, to the northwest, out of caution, after receiving indications of a problem with one of the engines of the device.

"The flight landed without incident and the customers were relocated to another plane and we apologize to our customers for the inconvenience this hijacking may have caused."

The pbadengers of the flight were however less optimistic, some of them having used Twitter after their experience.

The aircraft involved in the engine failure incident yesterday was an MD-88, a plane being phased out by airlines around the world.