This is the terrifying moment passengers looked out of their plane window to see propellers not spinning - after an engine caught fire.

The Nok Air twin-propeller aircraft carrying 84 people took off from Sakon Nakhon, Thailand, at 3.10pm but just ''two minutes'' later its engine was engulfed in flames.

Hair-raising footage shows smoke still coming from the plane's engine charred black around the engines with the farmer's fields visible below at an altitude of around 5,000ft.

Power to the engine was cut - leaving the Bombardier Dash 8 Q 400 to make a swift u-turn and perform an emergency landing at the airport it had just left.

The co-pilot can be heard telling passengers that there is an ''engine failure'' and apologising for the inconvenience. It landed at around 3.25pm some 15 minutes after take-off.

One passenger described how the aircraft ''shook slightly'' during the fire and feared that something ''much worse'' was about too happen.

Fellow-flyer Wee Boonsena said: ''We had just taken off and about one or two minutes later suddenly there was fire coming out of the exhaust of the engine. This happened two times. It was about 5,000ft high. It was a little bit exciting, a bit scary. My wife was a lot more scared than me. But thanks to the training of the pilot and the professionalism of the crew it was handled safely. Firefighters were on standby as the plane landed so I was relieved we all made it off safely. Emergency situations like this can happen to any airlines.''

Nok Air confirmed that the plane made an unscheduled landing.