A Southwest flight from Cuba to Florida was forced to turn around on Sunday after a flock of birds took out one of the plane's engines, causing it to catch fire.
The incident occurred aboard flight 2923, which "experienced bird strikes to an engine and the aircraft's nose," the airline revealed in a statement.
The encounter caused the engine to catch fire, which -- in turn -- caused the cabin to fill with smoke, officials said.
"Instantly there was a big boom, and smoke came in the cabin and everything," passenger Steven Rodriguez told WSVN. "Everybody was going insane."
Rodriguez described a scene of chaos, with passengers "panicking and screaming, 'Let us out! Help, help!'"
"I was gasping for air. It was tough, it was real hard to breathe," he said. "It was like a burn smell, and it was hurting my face. My eyes got real red, my chest started to burn."
Videos posted to social media shows a smoke-filled cabin and passengers wearing emergency oxygen masks as the plane started to descend.
After the plane returned to Havana, all 147 passengers and six crew members exited by using its emergency slides, Southwest officials said.
No one was injured in the incident, and all passengers were placed on other flights to Fort Lauderdale, according to the airline.
"We apologized to our customers for the negative experience, extending compensation for the inconvenience and offering additional support," Southwest said.
The incident remains under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration and Cacsa, Cuba's civil aviation authority.
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