French Passengers on board an Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Paris were thrown into a panic when an erroneous announcement was made informing passengers that the plane was about to make an emergency landing, the airlines aid.

20 minutes after leaving Dublin, an English language announcement was made informing the passengers that the aircraft was heading into turbulence, asking passengers to return to their seats, however the French version told the passengers that they were about to ditch.

One passenger on board the flight said that a French man sitting next to him suddenly woke up looking very startled.

He said that the French man translated the announcement, which informed passengers to prepare for an emergency landing, note where the emergency exits were and await instructions from the captain.

As the turbulence was getting worse, he became alarmed, saying how the woman was crying.

It took several minutes before the cabin crew realised that the wrong announcement was played, went back to the PA system and apologised for playing the wrong announcement.

A spokeswoman for the airline said that the error had been the result of the automated public address system malfunctioning.

She said that the cabin crew subsequently clarified and apologised to passengers for the very unusual situation.

There were 70 passengers on board the Airbus A320 flight on August 4.