A Ryanair plane packed with UK tourists was forced to divert mid-air due to a sudden malfunction.

Flight FR1667 was scheduled to land in Bristol at around 5pm GMT today after departing from the Canary island of Fuerteventura at 1.30pm GMT. But the aircraft was diverted to Lanzarote after just under an hour and a half in the air following issues with "some of the toilets", according to air traffic controllers. "The flight crew on a plane from Fuerteventura to Bristol asked to return to Lanzarote because of problems with some of the toilets. It landed without problems," they wrote on social media.

Based on its flight schedule, the Boeing 737 had been north of the Canary Islands over the Atlantic when it turned back. No one from Ryanair could be reached on Monday night to explain what had happened or say whether passengers were able to continue to their original destination or had to stay overnight in Lanzarote.

It comes after a Jet2 flight from Edinburgh to Tenerife was given priority landing on Thursday after a cabin crew member was allegedly attacked by a passenger.

Air traffic controllers said on X: "Incident on board a flight from Edinburgh arriving in South Tenerife. The crew requests medical assistance and police presence upon arrival for a fight where, apparently, they would have assaulted the TCP. We cut the approach to the maximum with priority."

A Jet2 spokesperson told the Mirror at the time: "We can confirm that police were called to offload a disruptive passenger from flight LS739."