This is the terrifying moment a jet was struck by lightning shortly after takeoff in Belgium on Sunday. A passenger plane was also struck by a huge electrical bolt in the storm, forcing the pilots to divert and abandon the flight to Egypt.
Meanwhile, dashcam footage from a car on the Brussels ring road captured the huge strike on the cargo plane bound for Qatar. The bolt of lightning appeared to travel straight through the aircraft with the impact briefly lighting up the sky. Passengers on the TUI flight reported hearing a loud bang and a 'burning smell'.
Image shows a cargo plane taking off before it was hit by lightning on Sunday. One told HLN: 'We suddenly heard a loud bang, with a flash of light. Afterwards we also smelled a slight burning smell. Data from aircraft tracking website FlightRadar24 shows that the plane departed Brussels at 1. A map showing the flight's route shows the plane travelling in a large narrow loop before returning to the airport.
After the plane landed the passengers were taken to hotels and were boarded onto a new flight on Monday. It comes after a British Airways plane was struck by lightning on its approach to Heathrow Airport in July.
Passengers onboard Flight BA from Stuttgart to Heathrow told of their 'shock' after the dramatic incident which forced crews to divert to Gatwick. One passenger, Jeco, told The Sun: 'The crew were amazing when our flight got struck by lightning on the approach to Heathrow. It was shocking. The flight had to divert to Gatwick. Passenger Robert Rossall, who was returning from a trip to Germany for the Euros, praised the response by the captain and his crew, telling MailOnline: 'The captain made a decision to land at the safer airport given the conditions and lightning strike.
