DRAMATIC video has captured the moment a passenger plane was struck by lightning, causing the cabin to be illuminated with a bright flash.
Panic erupted on board the Southwest jet, which was en-route to Denver, as travelers were heard screaming.
The cabin was in darkness in the seconds leading up to the lightning strike, as reported by the Fox affiliate KDVR-TV.
“Oh my God,” passengers were heard saying as the passenger plane shook.
Pablo Nuanes, a traveler on board the flight, said passengers were left startled.
“It was very loud, very bright,” he told KDVR-TV.
Meanwhile, Mariah Martinez said passengers were wondering if the plane had been struck by lightning after the cabin illuminated.
The suspected lightning strike happened just as the plane was arriving in Denver.
Denver was hit with thunderstorms on Sunday, forcing aviation chiefs to issue a ground stop.
The ground stop was in effect for around an hour as a result of the weather.
The plane was delayed by more than two hours leaving Tampa, thus landing into Denver late.
Southwest Airlines chiefs revealed the Boeing 737 Max 8 twin-engine plane was taken out of service while officials investigate.
“Our maintenance teams took the aircraft out of service for inspection,” spokesperson Laura Swift told the CBS affiliate KCNC-TV.
No travelers or cabin crew were injured following the air scare.
It comes just days after hundreds of passengers on Hawaiian Airlines jet were evacuated over a suspected bomb threat.
The pilot took swift action after a traveler was heard making a threat as the plane was leaving the gate at San Diego airport.
The plane was taken to another location on the airfield where it was searched.
Armed cops were seen combing the plane as passengers waited in their seats.
CLUSTER OF CRASHES
Earlier this month, two United Airlines planes collided before takeoff at San Francisco airport.
The right wingtip of a plane leaving a gate inadvertently struck the left wingtip of another plane.
In April, two American Airlines planes collided at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Virginia.
The accident occurred at the same airport that was the site of a tragic crash in January, which involved an American Airlines aircraft and a military helicopter, resulting in the deaths of 67 individuals.
Three people on board the Black Hawk military helicopter were killed, as were the 64 people on the passenger plane.
Mere days following the air catastrophe that shocked the US aviation sector, another fatal incident occurred off the Alaskan coast, where a small commuter plane crashed, claiming 10 lives.
And, a Delta jet flipped onto its roof when it smashed into a runway at Toronto Pearson airport in Canada.
Passengers recalled how they were left hanging like bats
