Passengers pen goodbye letters during plane's 26,000 ft drop, oxygen masks deployed

Passengers on a Japan Airlines flight to Tokyo were gripped by fear on Monday when a mechanical fault in the Boeing 737 aircraft caused it to plummet nearly 26,000 feet.

The plane, carrying 191 passengers and crew, dropped from roughly 36,000 feet to just below 10,500 feet within 10 minutes. Oxygen masks were released inside the cabin, sparking fears of a potential crash among those onboard.

One individual was reportedly "on the verge of tears" as they hastily penned their will and financial details during the rapid descent.

This frightening incident comes in the wake of a string of Boeing-related problems, including the widely reported Boeing 787 Dreamliner crash in Ahmedabad earlier in June.

Japan Airlines flight JL8696 took off from Shanghai Pudong Airport in China, bound for Tokyo's Narita Airport, on Monday. At around 6:53 p, reports the Mirror US.

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m. local time, the aircraft began to descend at a distressing rate.

An alert activated during the fall pointed to an issue with the plane's pressurisation system, according to Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.

"I heard a muffled boom, and the oxygen mask fell off in a few seconds. The stewardess cried and shouted to put on the oxygen mask, saying the plane had a malfunction," one passenger recounted, as per People.

"Suddenly, all the oxygen masks popped open while I was sleeping," another passenger recounted. Fears of losing consciousness gripped some travellers as cabin pressure plummeted.

The captain swiftly alerted air traffic control, issuing an emergency call, before rerouting the aircraft to Kansai International Airport in Osaka, touching down safely at 8:50 p. m. with all on board unscathed.

In light of the scare, passengers were offered 15,000 yen ($93) for their troubles and a complimentary overnight stay.

Authorities are currently dissecting the details of what went wrong.

Another recent incident saw a Boeing 737 Dreamliner clip a parked aeroplane at Vietnam's Noi Bai International Airport, resulting in considerable damage.

Boeing finds itself under scrutiny after a side exit door was dramatically lost from an Alaska Airlines plane mid-flight last year.