Terrified passengers and crew aboard a London Heathrow passenger aircraft were injured when it hit "severe turbulence" on its way to Kuala Lumpur.

A total of 40 people were reported injured after the air turbulence wreaked havoc inside the plane during the flight on Sunday (June 5).

Passengers described the moment the plane "dived" and caused some of the 378 people on board the Airbus A380 heading for Malaysia injuries as a result of the "weather event".

Harith Azman, one of those on the plane, told getwestlondon: "The plane started shaking and it got worse and then after that the plane just dived down causing all the passengers to float in the air.

"The stewardess was serving the food from behind and the trolley floated into the air and as soon as the pilot got control the trolley smashed down hard causing two stewardesses to get injured with some of the passengers.

"The pilot announced to us about 10 minutes after the free fall happened and said that the food couldn't be served as the trolley was badly damaged."

The scene after turbulence hit a Heathrow Airport bound flight and injured passengers Pic: @LazyAviator

He added: "It was very sudden and I thought that the plane will crash as it dived down fast."

Although the injuries were recorded as minor, Bernama news agency showed a woman being taken from the plane on a stretcher after the flight landed on time.

Images showed debris in the cabin aisle broken seat fittings

A Malaysia Airlines spokesperson said: "During the flight over the Bay of Bengal the passenger seatbelt light was switched on due to air turbulence.

"Due to a brief moment of severe turbulence some passengers suffered minor injuries.

"Medical crew and Malaysia Airlines senior management met the aircraft on arrival in Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). A small number of affected passengers and crew have been treated by medical officers.

"Malaysia Airlines has assisted the 378 passengers and crew onboard MH1 and sincerely apologises for any inconvenience caused by this weather event which was entirely beyond our control."