Incredible moment when the plane was struck by lightning during a European storm where the passenger plane was also struck by an electric bolt, forcing it to divert

This is the terrifying moment a plane was struck by lightning shortly after take-off in Belgium on Sunday.

A passenger plane was also struck by a massive electrical lightning bolt during the storm, forcing the pilots to divert and abandon the flight to Egypt.

The TUI plane was en route from Brussels Airport to the seaside resort of Hurghada when it was hit.

According to TUI spokesperson Piet Demeyere, the plane returned to the airport as a precaution.

Meanwhile, dashcam footage from a car on the Brussels ring road captured the massive attack on the cargo plane bound for Qatar.

The lightning bolt appeared to travel straight through the plane, briefly lighting up the sky.

“But despite the impact, the plane did not have to return,” a spokesperson for Brussels Airport told the Dutch-language Belgian news site HLN.

Passengers on the TUI flight reported hearing a loud bang and a ‘burning smell’.

This is the terrifying moment a plane was struck by lightning shortly after take-off in Belgium on Sunday

One told HLN: ‘We suddenly heard a loud bang, with a flash of light. Then we also smelled a slight burning smell.

‘It was quite a shock, with that loud bang.’

Data from the aircraft tracking website FlightRadar24 shows that the plane left Brussels on December 22 at 1:35 p.m. local time.

A map of the flight’s route shows the plane traveling in a large, narrow loop before returning to the airport.

After the plane landed, the passengers were taken to hotels and boarded a new flight on Monday.

MailOnline has contacted TUI for further comment.

It comes after a British Airways plane was struck by lightning on approach to Heathrow airport in July.

Passengers on board flight BA919 from Stuttgart to Heathrow told of their ‘shock’ after the dramatic incident that forced the crew to divert to Gatwick.

One passenger, Jeco, told The Sun: ‘The crew were amazing when our flight was struck by lightning on approach to Heathrow. It was shocking. The flight had to divert to Gatwick.’

The TUI plane was en route from Brussels Airport to the seaside resort of Hurghada when it was hit (file image)

Passenger Robert Rossall, returning from a trip to Germany for the Euro, praised the response of the captain and his crew, telling MailOnline: ‘The captain has decided to land at the safer airport given the conditions and the lightning strike.

‘Once on the tarmac he was informative and even walked around the entire plane talking to all the passengers. The cabin crew passed around bottled water and calmed down. (It was) handled very professionally.”

An airline pilot previously said that lightning strikes are nothing more than a nuisance to aircraft and occur quite often.

In his book This Is Your Capitan Speaking, Doug Morris explains: ‘Statistics show that an aircraft is struck (by lightning) every 5,000 hours, or about once a year. The FAA estimates that every aircraft in the US will be affected once a year.”

He continued: ‘A lightning strike can disrupt some instruments, but usually it is not a serious problem because the aircraft is not grounded. Lightning may come in on one side and go out on the other, and there may be only superficial damage.

“I’ve only had it happen once: we had a small hole in the nose cone and the exit point in the tail had burned through a small piece of the tail fin support, so that had to be taken out of service.

‘It was fine for a temporary flight without passengers.

“After a lightning strike, the aircraft will probably need to be checked to make sure all the compasses and electronics are not out of whack.”