Eight people suffered minor injuries during an aborted take-off at London Stansted Airport, causing flights to be suspended for around three hours.

Crew on the Laudamotion flight to Vienna suspected engine problems on the runway shortly after 8:00 pm (2000 GMT) on Friday.

Passengers reported a bang rocking the cabin.

Thomas Steer said there was a "big bang on the side of the aircraft which skidded to a stop".

The estate agent, 24, from Essex, eastern England, said: "It was scary. And then staff shouting 'evacuate evacuate'.

"My friend opened the emergency exit and we slid down the slides, a few old people fell over and the fire brigade treated them.

"No-one was seriously injured, just minor things."

An airport spokesman said it had received reports that eight people suffered minor injuries in the incident.

Laudamotion tweeted that the crew "decided to abort the take-off due to engine issues and to disembark the passengers on the runway as a precautionary measure."

Stansted is Britain's fourth-busiest airport.

The airport tweeted around 11:00 pm (2300 GMT) that the runway had re-opened and was fully operational again.afp