A mystery dark liquid sparked panic when it began dripping from the overhead compartment on a flight in the Philippines.

Shocked passengers saw the unknown substance oozing through the gaps in the hat rack inside an AirAsia Airbus A320 shortly after it departed Manila for Davao City on September 21.

Panicked travellers were drenched with the black fluid as they could not move out of their seats while the safety sign was on.

No one was seriously hurt in the incident but concerned commuters urged the airline to investigate as the cause and origins of the leak remained unclear.

Passenger Roxan Iligan said: 'The bags across the plane was checked, but not one contained a black liquid. If it's not from the baggage, where would it come from? They need to check that plane for safety.'

The leak reportedly started between rows 15 to 17, which was close to the plane's wings. It then flowed backwards until row 25, where Roxan and her family were seated.

Roxan added: ‘It was the scariest moment of my life. We were panicking. My husband's shoes and pants were wet and had contact with his skin, but we had no idea what that liquid was.

‘Other passengers were also concerned for us since the cabin crew could not attend to us immediately because the plane was taking off.

‘I was stunned. I didn't know what to do. What if that was a chemical that could cause complications? It was traumatizing.'

However, Roxan was disappointed that no further checking was done on them and the others who had contact with the liquid, claiming the cabin crew only gave them paper towels to wipe it off.

The passenger added that the plane had an issue because the flight was rescheduled multiple times due to ‘problems with the aircraft'.

She said: ‘Our flight was rescheduled multiple times because they needed to fix something in the aircraft. I believe that there were problems with the aircraft.'

Roxan hopes the airline will launch a probe to clear the incident and safety reasons.

She said: ‘I sent an email to AirAsia, but they have not updated us until now. I don't know if I can ride their flight again because it was traumatizing. They don't value their passengers' safety if they ignore us like this.'

AirAsia spokesman Vanessa Regan said: 'Confirming this was a minor leak from a passenger's tumbler in the overhead compartment. The delay is not related.'